Welcome to the Family
by xXKaminari-TsubasaXx
Summary: Team Gem: A family oriented evil organization. Their goal? Only the family knows. Chance of success? Greater than you know. Would you like to join? If so, welcome to the family.
1. Meeting the Family

_**Well, lately I have been on an OC submission obsession, and have noticed many people are doing them, so, I figured: Why don't I try one?**_

_**The OC form is at the bottom, but I suggest you read the first chapter first :)**_

_**Disclaimer: Would I be writing a fanfiction about pokemon if I owned it? I think not.**_

Welcome to the Family

Amethyst Jewels couldn't believe her luck- no, she couldn't believe how insane her family was. Sure, she couldn't plead "sane" or "normal", but it certainly couldn't be all her fault, considering children's personalities are partially determined by how they're raised. If that is the case she must be lucky, extremely so, that she hadn't turned out worse. Her siblings certainly weren't as lucky.

Regardless, this was absolutely ridiculous. The teenager's amethyst eyes narrowed and her teeth gritted as she glared at the boy standing across from her. His lax posture and smug facial expression spoke volumes that he was hardly intimidated. His condescending black eyes gazed upon her as if she was nothing more than a fly he was amused to watch at the moment; something that could be swatted down at any time.

"Onyx," she gritted out his name and had a slight fluttering of irritation when she reflected his eyes matched his name, "Would you _please_ stop lecturing me? I hardly need it from _you_."

Unruffled, to say the least (it was possible he had become in an even brighter mood from her irritation, much to her chagrin), the teenager's passive onyx black eyes gazed back at her and a darkly amused grin slipped upon his face.

"Sister _dearest_, I am merely trying to help you. You need not be so _aggressive_, though it is a rather nice change."

Helping her, right; she mentally scoffed. Amethyst pulled in a shaky breath, ready to snap back, but her breath ended up bowing back out of her lips; deflating her. There was no use arguing with her brother; she'd never win.

Her agitated expression reverting back to her usual lackadaisical indifference and her stiff posture slackening, she completely gave up her point and gazed at her twin indifferently. His expression almost simultaneously turned into a scowl as if sensing that she would give up. Perhaps that twin telepathy theory actually held some water? The thought was fleeting; it hardly mattered.

"Sister, you really must gain some ambition. You're attitude will get you nowhere in the world. Mother and father have talked to you about it, so have Diamond and Emerald- hell even _Sapphire_ has talked to you about it. I'm sure Quartz would if he could speak yet." Honestly, his twin sister could very well be the disappointment of the family. That couldn't do though, since she _was_ his twin (much to his shame) she had an immediate reflection on him, and it had better be a _damn_ good reflection as far as he was concerned.

Unbothered, Amethyst muttered, "Well, maybe I'm a lost cause then. Perhaps mother and father should disown me altogether."

"Perhaps they should."

There was a moment of silence where the tension in the air was almost palpable. They did never get along well, they very well might have been night and day (though day was entirely too bright for either of them, and night too serious). Perhaps, though, that wasn't either of their faults. It had been like that since the beginning.

Soft lavender fur brushed against the pale girl's jean-clad leg and curious violet cat-slit eyes gazed up at her. Unconsciously, her hand reached down to pet her faithful pokemon and her eyes softened. Her own purple eyes unconsciously wandered to the sleek black fur and glowing yellow rings of the pokemon at her brother's side. Was it coincidence that their pokemon didn't get along either?

Finding nothing else to talk about, she straightened up, though still with a slight slouch, and began walking off without another word. She knew her brother was altogether too stubborn to actually call her back. This was actually how most of their conversations ended; with her simply walking away and leaving him fuming. She supposed she didn't help their relationship, but she really couldn't muster up the strength to care.

"Oh, Amethyst, Onyx!" a familiar voice rang out just as the teenager was about to turn the corner of the dark hallway. Her eyes narrowed; him.

"Ame-Babe, are you walking away from Ony-Dear _again_? Bless my soul, if Dia-Queen and I can even _remotely_ get along, you should be able to too. You make your poor big brother's hair turn silver (for gray was for far too boring) - and I'm only but at the tender age of nineteen! For shame you two, _for shame_!" Ah, still as overdramatic and migraine inducing as ever. She didn't even know why she went to bed praying he would just be gone the next day- he never would, if only to torment her.

Amethyst begrudgingly halted in her walk and inclined her head towards her tormentor. He looked at her expectantly (already having her dear twin brother in a tight hug she couldn't help but note in satisfaction) with his wide emerald eyes and an enticing smile on his too-childish face. Childish. That's what he was. His lighter sliver-green hair was cut messily and flopped in his eyes. His face probably had more baby fat than her -who was only fifteen- but was at the far too-tall height of six feet two inches for someone of his caliber. He grated on her last nerve, possibly more so than Onyx, and she was sure he would be the death of her. If she couldn't do him in first that is.

As if sensing her thoughts, the fox-like leaf type pokemon sitting next to him glared up at her with its almond eyes. Ah, they never did get along. Unfortunate seeing as her own eeveelution was quite fond of the tan and green menace.

Trying to water down her glare to a point where he older brother wouldn't wail about it, Amethyst gazed steadily back at the young adult and murmured, "Emerald, what have I said about referring to me as 'Ame-Babe'? Your hair is also _dyed_ (she stressed this part) to be a silvery shade."

Not daunted in the slightest, even when his younger brother started jerking violently in his hold and threatening him, Emerald in a show of strength that should not belong to him, retained poor Onyx in one arm and extended his newly freed one to his younger sister. "Oh come on Ame-Babe, you know I give everyone I love a super cute nickname. Now, why don't you give your older brother the pleasure of a hug from his favorite baby sister and have him make you and you're twin play nice?"

Ridiculous. He was also that. Not only did he have a family complex, but for some twisted reason, _she_ was his favorite person in the '_whole wide world_'. Being near him for too long gave her a headache.

With a simple narrowing of her amethyst eyes, she swiftly turned around on her heels and left with a swishing of her long lavender dyed hair and her color coordinating companion at her heels. She twisted along many corridors until she was sure her brother couldn't find her even if he followed her.

After a quick intake of her surroundings, she found herself in the near vicinity of the nursery. Why they had a nursery in a base headquarters could only be for her baby brother. Though it was beyond her why they needed a whole nursery and not a simple bedroom. Regardless, she might as well visit him, since she had nothing better to do.

"Would you like to visit Quartz and Abel, Gypsy?" Amethyst questioned with a slight dip of her head towards her espeon.

The pokemon, Gypsy, nodded her consent and started her way towards where she knew the two resided. The two passed down two corridors in contented silence until a flash of deep blue hair suddenly flashed around the corner. The two purple beings stopped abruptly before they bumped into the two blue ones.

Sapphire colored eyes looked up through their lashes as someone much shorter and obviously younger stood before Amethyst. Upon taking in who she had almost ran into, a grin automatically took over her young face and she squealed happily, "Amethyst!"

Amethyst smiled down happily at possibly the only person in her family she could stand. Well, she didn't mind Quartz, but he didn't do too much yet, so he didn't count. "Hey Sapphire, how are you kid?" She ruffled her blue hair affectionately while Gypsy greeted the blue fish and fox-like pokemon standing slightly behind its owner.

"Oh, I just got back from training Storm a bit before mom's announcement," Sapphire smiled benignantly up at her older.

Amethyst bit back a sigh. At only nine years old, her sister could probably already beat her in a battle. Not just because Amethyst was not proficient, but Sapphire was also a genius. A prodigy, she could probably also beat Onyx, maybe even Emerald. Sapphire had on many occasions claimed that there was no way she could possibly beat Amethyst, and believed it, but the child seriously underestimated her talent. She was a perfect little girl, but Amethyst could and would never find it in herself to hold it against her.

"How's Angel coming along?" she questioned.

The little blue girl beamed, "He's doing absolutely wonderful! He'll even be able to hold his own against Storm soon you know, and none of my other pokemon can even do that yet! It must have been because you gave him to me."

Praise she didn't deserve, but she was quite pleased her sister loved the togepi she gave her for her ninth birthday. She could think of no better home for it than Sapphire who was an angel herself.

"Don't slight yourself Sapphire; you're a brilliant trainer already. It has nothing to do with me, but I do appreciate it."

Sapphire looked at her knowingly, "But you shouldn't slight yourself either sis. You could easily be one of the best trainers here, if you tried," ah, now she was going to get lectured by her nine year old sister, _again_ "Mom and papa are really counting on us to be the leaders- they're even letting me help (they would be insane not to) and mom says we're going to be helping a lot of people! Don't you want to help people, Amethyst?"

Help people. Right. Amethyst could have snorted; her mother had absolutely no intention of helping people. Her father…she figured he was under the illusion mother was doing this for some greater good, but father was never the brains, though he was the nice one, of the relationship. She also couldn't blame sweet Sapphire for being fooled. Her older sister was just as much a snake as her mother, and Onyx likes power, a lot. Emerald? Well, he went along with anything his family wanted to do, or so she figured.

No, they weren't exactly the good guys in this. "Let's go get Quartz, and then we'll probably have to head over to the auditorium."

"Okay," Sapphire said agreeably, not pushing Amethyst for an answer. She never did. She pulled up to her older sister's side when she began walking and their eeveelutions trailed behind them. "Do you think Quartz is playing with Jaws, Cinders, and Ivy? Well, he's obviously playing with Abel…"

Jaws, Cinders, and Ivy were a totodile, cyndaquil, and chikorita, respectively. They were perhaps the only effort Amethyst had put forth in this whole scheme. She has noticed that every evil pokemon organization had been taken out by some rookie trainers, and she'd be damned if she was beaten by some snot nosed brat. So, she marched in the lab and swiped the pokeballs and walked out; after having Gypsy put everyone to sleep. Sure, the three starters were mad at first, but they were surprisingly understanding after she explained. Already having a full pokemon team, she decided to have them be Quartz's playmates. Amethyst figured she'd just give them to Quartz when he came of age; they'd have a strong bond by then.

"Yes, he probably is. In fact, we could probably use the excuse that they couldn't bear to leave him, so we couldn't attend the meeting…"

"No."

"Jeez, I was just kidding…"

…………………….

Onyx cursed as he stalked down the dreary halls toward the auditorium. It took him a while, but he finally got his idiot of a brother, Emerald, to get the hell off him. He was absolutely disgusted when he found that his shirt was damp from his brother blubbering about 'Ame-Babe' being mean to him.

And her, oh, he would get back at the ungrateful wench for leaving him with _that_ and for completely ignoring his advice. He was _trying_ to get his sister to apply herself so she could make something of herself. She could be a great asset to them and a powerful trainer (though not nearly as powerful as himself) if she actually tried instead of being some lazy-ass good-for-nothing.

The brooding teenage boy's steps started to get longer and his feet began to make a loud 'thud' as they hit the ground. He, unlike his sister, showed when he was agitated, and was quite familiar with the feeling. He rubbed the back of his fist to his deep black eyes; contacts never did agree with him well. He agreed with his sister when she said the fake eye colors were quite unnecessary, but it did add quite nicely to his bad boy look.

Yes, their family was quite the evil villain cliché, seeing as it seemed each team appeared to have its theme. Theirs being stones, and his mother seemed to want to go all out. Each having an eevee bound to them at birth, such as his Shade, and destined to each evolve into a different eeveelution, they all having names after a gemstone, and being brought up to love a certain color; Onyx couldn't help but wonder how long his mother had been planning this.

Maybe Amethyst was right and they were crazy, but it was their family, and, hey, world domination isn't too bad. "Is my baby brother _brooding _again?"

Onyx brought his dark eyes up to the source of the sickly sweet voice; the ice bitch herself. "I'm not brooding Diamond," he hissed back.

Diamond smirked and curled her finger through her long dark tinted icy blue hair that dangled upon her -large- bosom. Ah, his sister had perfected the art of looking slutty and professional at the same time with a white colored long sleeved shirt _much _too tight in certain places, a short black pinstripe pencil skirt, high heeled black pumps that made her even taller than she already was, and silver wire glasses that only seemed to frame her dangerous and cunning ice blue eyes. A snake; a temptress; an ice queen: that was his oldest sister.

And he wouldn't be surprised if she were to cut him down if he got in her way.

The light and dark blue fox pokemon standing by her side seemed to mirror her condescending expression and set his umbreon's fur bristling. She laughed quaintly with a coy smile and said; "Oh little brother, you never seem to stop amusing me," what part about him was _amusing_? "But we don't have time to be idle; we must get to mummy's speech."

Diamond was the only one to ever speak of their mother so informally- even little Sapphire never called her mommy. It wasn't surprising though; his mother and his older sister were one in the same, though his mother went for a warmer approach.

Not receiving an answer, the twenty four year old went on to ask another question without appearing to be bothered, "Oh, where is that good-for-nothing twin of yours and Sapphire? Emerald already showed up and he said that they would be bringing Quartz."

Onyx's eyes narrowed and he hissed, "Do not call Amethyst a good-for-nothing." Only _he_ could do that.

Amusement flashed in the older girl's eyes and her red lips quirked up, but it was gone in a flash before her little brother noticed, "Yes, yes, I suppose we'll have to wait for them inside, won't we?"

Before he could reply, his sister turned on her heals and sashayed through the door she had been standing by, hips swinging and glaceon following in a similar manner. Onyx gritted his teeth; ice bitch. He grudgingly followed behind his sister and shut the door behind him.

…………………….

The lights dimmed in the large auditorium and the crowd of spectators on the floor immediately quieted down. Only a few whispered lingered, and even those were silenced when a spotlight was turned onto a woman standing in the middle of the stage.

She looked to be in her early forties, but still had her beauty about her. With flowing flaming red hair and enticing ruby eyes, she called for attention, and received. Her posture was that of one proud and confident, but her warm, motherly smile offset any negative feeling felt towards her. A fiery pokemon that could be identified as a flareon stood confidently by her side.

Just at the edge of the spotlight and slightly behind the woman's right shoulder stood a brawny man with bright thinning yellow hair and laughing topaz eyes and only looked but a little older than her. He was tall and intimidating, but had winkle lines from smiling at his eyes' edges and an easy grin on his face. He could easily be placed as a gentle giant, because that's exactly what he was. A jolteon stood by his side, just as friendly as his master.

Colorful offspring of the adults stood behind them in a line. An icy blue one that smirked when she realized many of the younger men's eyes were drawn to her, a green one that was clearly becoming a man but held an expression of a child, a black one that had confident poise and a cocky smirk, a purple one with a strained smile and looked about the same age as the black one, a dark blue little girl of angelic qualities standing close by the purple teenager, and perhaps the least colorful of them all, a little boy no less than one but no more than two with brown hair was sleeping peacefully in the purple girl's arms.

They were truly a sight to behold, with the addition of a matching eeveelution for each, including an eevee for the babe, and commanded total attention. The audience was shocked out of their speculation as the older woman's voice rang out, "Welcome my friends! I am pleased to see you."

She paused a moment to make sure she had everyone's complete attention then continued, "As you know, you are here to join the illustrious Team Gem and make the world a better place. Many a misguided team have tried before us, such as Team Galactic and Aqua and Magma, but," a sad shake of the head, "They have went about it all wrong. They have scared the citizens of countless regions and abused the pokemon- especially the legendaries. This is not how Team Gem will go about things. We will make sure the people understand our purpose and help us, and there will be absolutely no pokemon harmed. We will make the world a better place where pokemon and humans can live in perfect harmony and there will be no corruption, no wars, and no murders- a world of absolute peace. Our plan?" an unseen smirk, "That will be explained later. Right now I want to tell you one thing, just one thing: Welcome to the family."

Welcome to the family, indeed.

……………..

_**Okay, so I'm going to probably need a lot of OCs for this story, so feel free to submit more than one! **_

_**Important: There will not be some group of happy-go-lucky trainers against Gems, but a different TEAM. The team's name will be Avian.**_

_**My only other characters in this story will be the leader of Team Avian and one or two more people on that team. I will not create any more OCs unless necessary, so I'm going to be using your OCs to further the plot.**_

_**I would also prefer that you PM your OC rather than put it in a review; but your choice.**_

_**Okay, I'm done. Here's the OC form:**_

**Name: (**_**They don't have to be gemmed themed, by the way :P**_**)**

**Age: (**_**12-however old you want please. They can't be too young, but they can be however old you want.**_**)**

**Gender:**

**Eyes:**

**Hair: (**_**Color, style, length**_**)**

**Clothes:**

**Personality: (**_**paragraph please, I want to get them right**_**)**

**History: (**_**No soap-opera pasts please**_**)**

**Gem, Avian, or Other (if so please specify)?:**

**Why joined?: (**_**Yes, I know you don't know Team Gem's motives, but that's on purpose. Why did you join the team in blind faith, or do you have a reason? For Team Avian, you should know that there have been rumors about Team Gem already, and everyone will be newly recruited into Team Avian, just say why you accepted**_**)**

**Opinion on Team Gem in general: **

**Opinion on Amethyst:**

**Opinion on Onyx:**

**Opinion on Emerald:**

**Opinion on Diamond:**

**Opinion on Sapphire:**

**Opinion on Ruby (momma Jewels) and Topaz (papa Jewels):**

**Pokemon: (**_**No legendaries, eeveelutions, or lucario/rilou. Have their personality, type, nickname (if they have one), and moves)**_


	2. Settling In I

_**Wow….I can't believe I received so many OCs so fast….that makes me really happy! Thank you all and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**_

_**Disclaimer: Would I be writing a fanfiction about pokemon if I owned it? I think not.**_

Welcome to the Family

Deep lifeless black eyes flickered uninterestedly around the dark hallways they walked. A black trench coat ruffled slightly from the movement of the person who wore it and a hand unconsciously reached up to ruffle slightly spiked neck length black hair.

The same black eyes wandered to the lavender hair that swished before him that belonged to an amethyst eyed girl. Yes, Amethyst had gotten mad at him for bringing up that she didn't give herself enough credit and was now giving him the silent treatment. He had only brought it up this once, because he felt he should point it out, but he easily let it drop. He was pretty quiet by nature, and did not tend to pursue points people did not wish to talk about.

Ace Brake had met Amethyst Jewels two weeks ago at the initiation ceremony her mother had held. Ruby, the mother of the Jewels family, had assigned her children to show certain members around and to create a "family bond". The purple girl had not been very enthusiastic, and failed to show any warmth upon their meeting.

Surprisingly though, the two quickly became fast friends. He was quite surprised by this. The development in itself was completely over Amethyst's head, who did not make friends that easily, but she let it go and accepted it. Now whenever you saw one of them, the other was likely to be somewhere close behind.

Ace didn't mind, and was happy to have a somewhat sane friend here; these people were either extremely odd or crazy. Ace flinched slightly when something that felt like a little claw pulled on his hair. He looked slightly up to see a dark purplish pokemon gazing at him with sapphire gem eyes. A pokemon with gem eyes for a member of Team Gem: fitting.

Ace followed where his sableye's other claw was pointing and saw that Amethyst had stopped and was looking back at the slightly him expectantly. Fearing she had been saying something to him, he hesitantly asked, "What?"

A brief glimmer of annoyance flashed in Amethyst's eyes, but it was gone so fast Ace thought he could have just imagined it. The teenager hefted out an exaggerated sigh and looked like she had just been asked to run five miles, "I said there is a disturbance ahead of us and asked if you would like to turn around."

A disturbance? Ace didn't hear anything and was slightly skeptical of Amethyst's claim. Was she psychic like her pokemon? Well, at least she wasn't mad anymore. Shrugging it off, Ace just stated, "I don't hear anything."

Amethyst nodded her head, lavender hair swishing, and turned back around and continued in the direction they had been going. Maybe Ace had spoken too soon about her not being mad. After a couple of minutes of walking in silence, the sound of voices began to be heard.

The two teenagers stopped after they turned a corner and saw two figures in a particularly large hallway intersection. Maybe Amethyst was psychic; there was no way she could have heard that from back there. A glimmer of red brought Ace's attention to the espeon looking up at him knowingly with slightly cheeky eyes. Or, perhaps her pokemon had just warned her.

"You're little _Simba_ tried to mate with by precious Frost, I believe you owe me a favor- in the least," A menacing female voice hissed and brought Ace's attention to the disturbance is companion had warned about.

In the middle of the hallway stood Diamond Jewels with a particularly cruel expression and looking more dangerous than ever, and opposite her stood another female that looked a couple years younger than her and had almond shaped gray eyes and luxurious wavy dark blond hair.

Ah, Katherine (though more commonly known as Rhina) Cohen. How could he _not_ have known her when she showed up to the first "family dinner" completely nude? The woman was a legend- a much appreciated one. Little was to be disliked about it with a body like hers. Well, for the males that is. Diamond wasn't exactly a happy camper when she realized she wasn't the main attraction for male attention.

Also in the feud were Diamond's glaceon Frost that was glaring heatedly at a powerful looking luxray staring at her hungrily. It could be deducted who "Simba" was in the situation.

Rhina appeared indifferent, though you could almost feel an underlying annoyance in her, "First, his name is _Kimba_, and I do not owe you any favors. You can either get over what happened, or not. I'll let you know ahead of time; if it happens again, I won't stop it."

It was truly amazing how Rhina could stand up to such a scary woman; though she was not one to be messed with herself, even if she wasn't a snake. Ace looked over and was surprised to find a faint smirk planted upon Amethyst's face; something you don't see often.

Oh yes, this woman was certainly something to stand up to her sister. Diamond was a manipulative snake, and she and Amethyst never have remotely gotten along. The dislike that she held for Onyx and Emerald was nothing compared to her older sister; while they were just annoying, her sister was evil.

She, though, had never had the courage or fight to stand up to her like Rhina has. The best part about it was that Diamond couldn't even do anything about her. Rhina was perhaps one of the most important additions to their "family" by being their tech wizard. She was amazing with what she did, and they didn't even have a need for a full team of technicians with her around. Though the two never talked, Amethyst had found a deep respect for this girl, and hoped Team Gem would treat her well, and not lead to her downfall.

Diamond narrowed her eyes at this…._slut_. First she shows up at the dinner _naked_ and then has the audacity to consider _her _the slut. Just look at her! She's wearing a form fitting tank top and short shorts when she's doing technician work! She had never had someone treat her with such a lack of fear before, and the worst part was: _there was nothing she could do about it_. She was, unfortunately, a great asset to the team, and mummy said they couldn't replace her. Oh, but Diamond would have her revenge on the aloof twenty year old in the end, she always got her revenge.

…………………….

"So, how are the recruits?"

"Hm?" Ruby looked up from the piles of papers she had stacked upon her desk. She was in her private office, a place where even her husband Topaz and Diamond couldn't enter. It was the place where her plans were made and she let all pretenses drop.

"Well, there are many promising ones, as well as those that aren't so much; though all better than my second youngest daughter," Ruby explained in a matter of fact way while shuffling her papers together.

"Amethyst? You often complain about her, why don't you just get rid of her?"

"Oh no, I couldn't do that. She _is_ part of the family, and a part of a now complete collection; even if she isn't promising in the least. Then again," a sinister smile, "She plays a _very_ vital role in my plan, a part which, unfortunately, only she can perform."

"Ah, yes, that. But, are you sure you're not underestimating her?"

Ruby scoffed, "I've given that girl all the hope I could possibly give, but it produced nothing. Anyway, onto something more important: the Avian."

"They have started to assimilate forces too."

"And could you…?"

"I am sorry Ruby, but I am not here to serve you."

Ruby shook her head with a genuine smile as if something ridiculous had been said, "Well of course _you _don't serve _me_. You serve no one. Though, I appreciate that you told me they have started recruiting. Well then, I suppose we must higher our defenses and seek them out to squash them. If there is one useful thing my daughter knows, it's to stop something before it's even started."

"And you don't underestimate _them_?"

"Don't be silly, I never underestimate anyone."

"Very well, who will lead the mission?"

"Diamond, obviously. I am quite proud of my firstborn, and she will lead Gem once I am gone."

"Yes, she is very much like you, especially from when you were younger. You have, though, always been much warmer."

Ruby smiled humorously, "Well, I _am _fire, and she is ice. I tend to be a little warmer." Ruby fingered a somewhat large silver ring on her index finger in a moment of silence. It had a curious stone set in the middle which could not be easily identified. "Do you believe I'll succeed?"

"You don't sound confident, it's not like you."

She began to twist her ring, "Yes, well, you are probably the only one that knows my true goal, besides _him_, and a little encouragement would be nice."

"You ultimately strive for peace, correct?"

"Naturally."

"Then everyone already knows your goal, they just don't know about how you will achieve it."

"You know what I mean-"

"Yes Ruby, I believe you will achieve your goal."

The read headed woman gave a final twist of her ring before letting her hand relax. Her face darkened and a twisted smile stole upon it, "and _he_-"

"Will not be able to stop you."

Satisfied, Ruby stood up from her desk with a twisted smile still planted on her usually motherly face, "His death will be such a reassurance."

"Careful Ruby, if someone sees this part of you, you're image will be ruined."

"What are you talking about? This is me."

"You know what I-… I do not appreciate it when you try to get back at me Ruby."

Ruby giggled as a presence seemed to leave the room, though it appeared as if nothing had been there in the first place. Her flareon opened his eyes and gazed groggily up at her; he hated it when she talked to herself.

…………………….

Mika's blue eyes gazed loathingly at the person below him; if he could just…

"Mika, pay attention. What is the situation?" a low voice, that only he could hear, spoke to him through the transmitter stuck in his ear.

"They've gotten many recruits and seem to have powerful members, but they really need to tighten up security. I think they're underestimating us." Mika said back to the voice, eyes still glaring at the dark figure below him.

"Right, as expected from Ruby. It sounds like you have everything under control, so after you finish come back to base- and no direct confrontation. That's an order." The distinctly male voice fizzed out after the last sentence.

The bleached white haired boy scowled. He wasn't afraid to take out the whole base by himself, especially if he got to take out Onyx along the way.

"Well, what did he say?" Mika glanced over to the girl crouching in the small air vent next to him. She had thick wavy chestnut brown hair and clever olive green eyes. Her black outfit concealed her nicely with only hints of silver glinting slightly from the limited light, and a white scarf that dimly stood out in the dark.

"He said to finish up and head back, that okay with you Lauren?"

"Please call me Silverfeather," her last name, "and let's do a quick overview of what we've seen and then go; there's not much else left."

Mika agreed and began, "We've been around most of the upper part of the building, but the part that extends underground doesn't appear to have air vents. We have also looked over most of the rooms belonging to the Jewels' themselves, and any other room that is not a bedroom belonging to the recruits. Except that room Ruby came out of…"

"It was locked more heavily than any other room, and we couldn't chance one of our pokemon trying to get in because it would have caused too much noise. We'll report about it and it should be fine," Lauren said bluntly.

After getting a stiff nod, she continued, "We've seen the youngest sister, Sapphire, with the youngest brother, Quartz, and a few other younger members in his nursery room. The eldest son, Emerald, was scared off somewhere by their technician after he had gotten into her workspace. After following the technician –I believe her name is Rhina- we were lead to the eldest daughter and most dangerous sibling, Diamond. They immediately got in a fight about Rhina's luxray sexually harassing Diamond's glaceon (something she was highly amused about) and the middle daughter, Amethyst, soon showed up along with another male about her age. The last Jewel sibling is beneath us now…"

Both looked down to see that Onyx was still eating a sandwich in the kitchen with his umbreon happily taking bites when he could; both oblivious to their enemies watching from a close distance. Suddenly, he coughed and pulled out a sweaty sock from his sandwich and wrinkled his nose while growling about some "insolent little punk". At least _someone_ was making his life hell.

Maki's fists tightened and he grinded out, "I could just kill him now and we would be down one enemy."

Lauren had no problem with eliminating a threat, but that would most likely cause a scene and they would be caught; not to mention her boss would be angry that they went against orders. Plus, he was kind of cute…

"Just leave him, I'm sure you'll get another opportunity to kill him; you _are_ an assassin after all," the brunette explained and started moving down the vent to where they would exit.

Maki took one last look at the oblivious teen he loathed below him, and begrudgingly began to follow Lauren, "And you were a professional thief."

Lauren tensed slightly at the mention of her past, but didn't say anything in return. An ex-thief and an assassin part of the "good" guys: what an ironic world.

…………………….

Eyes with black rings that faded to green towards the middle and had gold flecks watched as the last sign of the Team Avian operative disappeared down the air vent.

Back pressed against the wall, the person switched their sight to the Team Gem member as he finished the last bit of his sandwich after disposing of the sock and began walking towards the exit. The figure slunk down behind a large decorative vase placed near the door. The male teen and his pokemon turned the other way from where the figure was crouched and went on their way. The person remained unnoticed.

A smile slipped on their face as they stood up and treaded lightly down the halls. The figure hadn't once encountered a person from Team Gem that they couldn't avoid; luck seemed to be on their side.

Discovering Team Gem's and Avian's true intentions wouldn't be easy, but if things kept up like this, they would have figured it out before the teams even had their first conflict with each other. Coral colored hair disappeared around the corner as the sound of footsteps faded from the area; leaving only an eerie silence and a pair of emerald colored eyes watching.

…………………….

_**Don't worry if you submitted an OC and they're not in this chapter; they'll most likely be in the next chapter or the one after.**_

_**Tell me if I presented any of your characters incorrectly so I can fix them, and I'll still be accepting OCs for a while if you want to submit one and haven't yet :)**_

_**Also, if you're confused about the part with Ruby: good :P**_


	3. Settling In II

_**I'm sorry this took so long! My teachers went psycho with end of school tests, and then finals…yeah, I kind of freaked out about those. I was also finishing up with spring soccer (my last game is tonight, wish me luck! :D).**_

_**Now it's summeh time, so I shall be writing more~ look forward to that :)**_

_**Lastly, I'll just say now that I know light screen doesn't make a physical barrier when used, but for my purposes, let's pretend it does, okay?**_

_**Disclaimer: Would I be writing a fanfiction about pokemon if I owned it? I think not.**_

Welcome to the Family

Alayna scowled slightly while checking her nails; what annoying brats.

It was a beautiful day out, and many members from Team Gem had gathered out in the large courtyard located at the back of the base. The base was, in fact, on a private island located off the coast of Olivine City, Johto, but many miles away from Cinnabar Island. The base itself was an extremely large gothic mansion that had many floors, extended far down into the earth, and had more rooms than anyone could count. How the Jewels became so independently wealthy was a mystery to anyone besides the mother of the family, and perhaps the father.

The courtyard was located to the back of the building, that took up most of the small island, and started about a half mile away from the edge of the island that ended in a low cliff; high enough to only allow large waves to peak over, but low enough that you could jump in the ocean safely. It contained several battle grounds for practice battles, along with plenty of space to lounge or walk around listlessly. At the moment, the main attention in the courtyard was a fierce battle between two of the Gem's youngest members.

A dragonair quickly fired a _dragon breath_ at the oncoming pokemon. A petite fish and fox looking pokemon neatly jumped over the deadly attack and soared to land on the other side. The two pokemon faced each other down, both powering up their gazes with _leer_ and panting heavily. They had already been battling for quite a while and had accumulated many cuts, and they didn't have too much left in them.

On opposite sides of the field, the trainers of the pokemon also engaged in a staring contest. On one side was a little girl with dark blue hair and sapphire eyes wearing a cute white sundress with a dark blue silk ribbon around the waist. Facing her was another girl that looked about thirteen. She had golden hawk-eyes and black hair that reached down to gently brush her waist and blond bangs. In contrast to the other girl's sweet and gentle appearance, she wore a red shirt, brown leather jacket, camouflage pants, and combat boots; though she appeared just as friendly.

The littler girl gently smiled and broke the silence by saying, "You're a very good battler Yuzuki."

Yuzuki smiled and said, "You're not half-bad yourself."

After the brief moment of friendliness, the girls went back to battle mode and quickly brought their pokemon to attention.

Alayna ruffled her dirty blond hair that extended about six inches passed her shoulder and looked upon the battle with a critical eye. That girl, what's her name….? Oh, who cares? Her dragonair wasn't _nearly _as powerful or graceful as hers. The blue brat is too sweet too, though even she had to admit Sapphire was a phenomenal battler.

Hazel eyes then turned to the figures directly across the field from her and glared. Who was the central point of her glare? Amethyst Jewels. The girl was just plain pathetic at battling (though she had never _actually_ seen her battle, but how could she possibly be good?), she was repulsive to look at, and was just overall inferior at _living_ when compared to Alayna. She'd be better off just crawling under a rock and dying; what use was such a waste of oxygen?

After glaring with loathing eyes at the pathetic purple girl for a moment, Alayna graced the rest of the loser bunch with bothering to see who they were.

Of course, there was that quiet emo boy, Ace, who was with her as he always was. He was sitting down next to Amethyst (since she was much too lazy to actually stand up) and was chatting to her about the battle with her espeon and his sableye mock fighting by them. Hanging off the amethyst eyed girl's neck was a little boy that appeared about twelve that had brown hair that fell into his dark brown eyes with a blue baseball cap to top it off. He was grinning childishly, though a little dazed, and it was apparent on Amethyst's face that she was resisting swatting him off. Alayna could always remember his name (or at least his nickname) because it was so weird, fitting the little boy perfectly: OJ.

The last member of the little group was a an older teenage girl with friendly blue eyes and shoulder length brown hair held back by a decorative clip that had a flower on it. She was standing next to the others and watching the on-going battle while smiling contentedly. Alayna believed she was a little older than herself, she being sixteen, and as she tried to remember the girl's name, she could only come up with "Eric". She didn't think it was right, but who cares? It very well may be if she was hanging out with the freak squad.

"She's glaring over here again," mumbled Ace to Amethyst as he somewhat warily eyed the dirty blond teenager. His eyes squinted slightly in pain as bright light reflected off of the surplus of jewelry she wore.

"Yeah she tends to do that," Amethyst replied in a bored tone, appearing uninterested as she didn't once take her eyes off the battle before her.

Yuzuki's dragonair braced itself as Sapphire's vaporeon came running at her in a _quick attack_. Just as it was about to be hit, Yuzuki suddenly yelled out, "_Light Screen_, Aetos!"

Sapphire's eyes widened slightly in surprise and she cried out, "Stop, Storm!"

It was too late, and a slightly glittery yellow barrier erected itself between the two pokemon and Storm slammed right into it. Stunned and injured, Storm was repulsed and skidded, then stumbled back. Now grinning, Yuzuki immediately ordered, "Now use _wrap_ Aetos!"

The dragon pokemon gave a cry and rushed towards Storm and began to whip her snakelike body towards the vaporeon, ready to ensnare her. Amethyst narrowed her eyes as the scene took place and she brought up her thumb to her mouth and began to bite the nail.

Noticing her thinking pose, Ace commented, though in a bored tone, "Wow, it seems like Saph is going to lose this one."

Flicking her amethyst eyes towards him she said, "No, she's not. Sapphire doesn't lose."

Looking skeptical, Ace shrugged and let her believe what she wanted in the matter. He then decided to go on to another subject, "How did you know Alayna was glaring at us? You haven't looked at her once."

"Gypsy, of course. She doesn't appreciate it when sluts glare at us; she's ready to attack at the slightest wrong movement." Wasn't her espeon playing with Sableye? Looking back Ace saw that while their pokemon wrestled, Gypsy always had one glaring eye on Alayna. This brought up the question of how Amethyst knew how her pokemon felt. The Jewels, though, all seemed to have an exceptionally strong relationship with their pokemon; that may have something to do with it.

"You don't need to worry about her anyway Amethyst, I'll just get rid of her if she even comes within a foot of you!" announced the little boy hanging off Amethyst's shoulder, finally talking. OJ, as always, had been zoned out and dazed for most of the day. The group was surprised to hear him talk so suddenly, though Amethyst was more exasperated at what it was about.

"I can handle myself fine OJ, I'd appreciate it more if you got off my shoulder," Amethyst grumbled and half-heartedly tried to pull the boy off her shoulder; to no avail. The fourth member of the group chuckled to herself at the sight.

"Yeah! Good job Aetos!" The cry brought the group's attention back to the battle.

Yuzuki smirked triumphantly at the field where it appeared that her dragonair had completely encompassed its foe. Curiously, Sapphire appeared completely calm on the opposite side of the field, and the only hint of nervousness she gave away was that she was looking intently at the pile of Aetos' body.

"It looks like I've won Sapphire," Yuzuki said, though good naturedly. Every Gem in the courtyard was now watching at the battle, and surprised that Jewel prodigy had lost.

"No she hasn't," Amethyst said, catching some people's attention, though others could care less.

Yuzuki opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a confused "_Dra_?" from her Dragonair. The serpent looking pokemon began to unwind its large body. Most people, including herself and her trainer, appeared confused when there was nothing there. Before the hole in the ground where Storm should have been registered what had happened, the ground began to rumble and Storm shot out of the ground and into the air.

"_Ice Beam_," Sapphire ordered.

Storm quickly charged up ice in her mouth and let it rip, creating a strong beam of ice. It hit Aetos directly in the chest, and having no chance from it being a super effective move and already being so weakened, the dragonair fainted.

There was silence for a moment with only the sound of Storm's panting before Yuzuki returned Aetos and Storm shakily began walking back to Sapphire, though she appeared thrilled to have won and trilled "_Va, Vaporeon_!"

Sapphire laughed happily and scooped up her pokemon and cheered, "You did so good Storm!"

"Sheesh, I guess you're not a prodigy for nothing, huh? I don't think I had a chance," smiled Yuzuki as she walked over to the younger girl.

"You've got to be kidding me! I didn't think I would win! The _Light Screen_ was a really good idea, and if Storm hadn't used _dig_ we'd have been done for!" Sapphire assured her as they shook hands.

"Told you," Amethyst said in a slightly smug tone as she laid out on her back, causing OJ to fall back too. Ace sighed and decided it might be his best interest to not doubt his friend's judgment again.

"Sis! How did I do?" Sapphire called as she skipped over Amethyst.

Usually, if anyone approached Amethyst while she was laying down they would have to either talk to her while she was in that position or wait for up to six minutes for her to get up- and that may only be in a sitting position. In a surprising show of energy, Amethyst quickly hefted herself into a sitting position and hopped onto her feet, pulling OJ up with her.

"Great as usual Sapphie, never had a doubt that you'd win," Amethyst said nonchalantly as she straightened herself out and managed to pry OJ off of her and placed him next to her.

Sapphire smiled up adoringly at her older sister and said, "I know you did sis, you never do. I could have foreseen that _light screen_ and could have told Storm to use _brick break _to get through," Ace questioned whether vaporeon could even learn _brick break_ but was ignored, "but I guess it was good experience for avoiding _wrap_ attacks."

"How the hell are you _nine_?" Amethyst asked Sapphire, something she asked often, but ruffled her hair affectionately none the less.

Sapphire then noticed OJ standing next to Amethyst and turned to her elder by three years smiling, "How do you think I did OJ?"

OJ looked at her for a moment before saying, "All right, I guess," and went back to hugging Amethyst's arm, much to her disdain.

Sapphire's smile flickered for a moment, surprised. Even people who didn't like her had to admit that her battling was more than _okay_. She wasn't sure her battling had ever been called average so flippantly before. Even if it was coming from a dazed twelve year old boy that was uninterested in their conversation, it was a bit of a surprise.

"It seems a bit tense over here," Yuzuki commented jokingly, her golden hawk eyes laughing, as she walked over. Through her irritation with the younger boy on her arm, Amethyst managed to flash a lazy smile before going back to trying to pry him off and explaining to him that Sapphire's battling was more than _okay_.

"Hey Yuzuki," Ace greeted quietly, looking slightly bored.

"Hey Ace," Yuzuki greeted back then turned to the blue eyed brunette, "Hey Erika."

"Hi Yuzuki, great battle," Erika said pleasantly.

All was fairly peaceful in the courtyard after the battle. It may seem a little unusual for an evil organization, but things tended to be fairly peaceful around the base. It was around summer so the sun shone bright and the grass was a pretty green. Many members chose to train their water pokemon in the sea since it was the perfect weather to swim. A breeze rolled through the courtyard causing Amethyst's hair to flow gently in the wind. No matter how much her mother might try to convince everyone that this was just a pleasant side affect of being a "family" and organization, she knew better. While others may call this peace, she called it the calm before the storm.

She was just afraid of how hard that storm might hit and how many lives will be taken in the process. Through all the pretenses of being relaxed and lazy (though she truly was that), she was waiting…just waiting for the storm to hit, and then she could only hope to soften the blow of it if she was prepared.

….

_**Yes! This may have been a bit of a filler, but it was also a transition chapter. Be ready for some action and plot (yay, plot!) next chapter and to meet the rest of team Gem :)**_

_**This will be the last chapter I will be accepting OCs, so get them in if you want to submit one!**_

_**Also, if you want any love interests or have anything that you would like to happen to your character, PM me or put it in your review :)**_

_**Okay, see you next time :P**_


	4. Foreboding and Exploding

_**Make sure to read the memo at the bottom!**_

Welcome to the Family

"Hello dearies!" half of the people in the courtyard flinched at the overly zealous voice that could only belong to Emerald.

Erika smiled as the young man skipped towards where her group stood. His childish face was filled with joy (he was like this every time he came outside on a good day) and his emerald eyes sparkled in happiness as his silvery green hair flopped in them. Out of all the siblings, Emerald was her favorite. She didn't understand why everyone hated him so much, including his siblings. He was so happy and cheerful! He was funny too, and always nice to her.

"Hello Emerald!" she called and waved in welcome.

His eyes immediately locked on her blue ones and he nearly squealed, "Oh Eri-Love, you always make my day brighter!"

Erika gave a little "oomph" as the childish man engulfed her in a friendly hug. Ah, Emerald was very touchy too; she couldn't blame others if they weren't comfortable with that.

Emerald had been the Jewel sibling to show her around- what had it been? It had been only three weeks ago, but it seemed it had been so much longer since she had become part of the Gem "family". Anyway, she had been one of the recruits to bond with their designated sibling, like how Amethyst and Ace bonded. An example of when the sibling and recruit _didn't_ bond would be Diamond and Rhina- though Rhina hardly needed for Diamond to show her around and soon went to her own devices. The third type was when the two were mostly indifferent to each other, this being where Sapphire and OJ falls.

Emerald and Erika had hit it off as soon as it became apparent that Erika could stomach his cheerfulness and even embraced it. They had slowly been growing an even better friendship since the first day, though Erika still didn't know where he wondered off to throughout the day, and sometimes he confused her all together…

A couple days ago Erika had been walking through the hallways towards the kitchen around lunch time. Along the way a flash of coral caught her blue eyes. She could have sworn it was hair, but she didn't remember anyone in the team having coral colored hair.

Erika hesitated for a moment. The person had gone down a hallway she hadn't traversed yet (not surprising considering how big the house was) and she wasn't very keen to get lost in the huge house. Her curiosity got the better of her though, and she began her walk down the hallway.

The thumps of her feet seemed to resound in the dim corridor and it felt as if every shadow would reach out and grab her. It was probably just paranoia, but now that she thought about it, it didn't seem like the smartest idea to go down a dark hallway that you had never seen before, following someone that probably shouldn't have been there.

Just as she was about to turn back, she saw someone fleeing around another corner. Erika unconsciously began to run after the person, her shoulder length brown hair whipping behind her.

Erika rounded the corner, expecting to see the mysterious coral haired person (by now she figured she'd just call out one of her pokemon if she felt like she needed it), instead she stopped and stared. There was absolutely no one in the dark hallway. She began to creep down it and her eyes darted around, wary for someone about to jump out at her.

When she felt an arm grip around her forearm, she nearly had a heart attack. She whipped her head around and met a pair of emerald eyes.

"Oh, Emerald, you scared me," Erika sighed and brought her hand over her fast beating heart as Emerald released it.

"Quite sorry, Eri-Love; I didn't know I could be so quiet," Emerald chirped happily.

Erika studied him for a minute before giving a weak smile, "It's no problem," she paused, "But I came down here because I was following someone, did you happen see someone with coral colored hair?"

"Nope, it's only you and me."

Erika paused again, "What _were_ you doing here anyway Emerald?"

Emerald looked in her eyes and smiled innocently, "Little old me? I was exploring around the base, there are _so_ many rooms and corridors here."

Erika remembered Emerald telling her about how he liked to explore, but it still seemed suspicious. He just happened to be lurking down _this _hall? Also, he must have seen the person with coral colored hair, she was sure he had to. "Emerald-"

"Oh, Eri-Love, you're wearing a star on your clip today?" Emerald asked happily, acting like he hadn't just cut her off, and fingered her clip.

For some reason, though he appeared just as cheerful as usual, the hackles on Erika's neck rose and she stiffened. It wasn't that he was menacing, or anything close to it, there was just something about Emerald at that moment…

Her stomach chose that moment to grumble about her forgotten lunch and Emerald brightened. "Oh, it is about lunch time, isn't it? We can eat lunch together then!"

Emerald grabbed her hand and Erika let herself be dragged from the hallway, feeling like she had almost treaded upon something very dangerous. Black eyes that faded to green with gold flecks watched after them from within the deepest shadow they could find in the hallway, watching the childish late teenager's back with suspicion and slight curiosity: he certainly had seen her.

"Emerald, could you please not suffocate Erica?" Amethyst asked, exasperated, and broke Erica out of her reverie.

"Oh, sorry Eri-Love," Emerald apologized as he let go of Erika; a split second after, he glomped Amethyst in a "surprise hug".

"For the love of- Emerald, get the _hell_ off me!" Amethyst growled with venom dripping from her words as the attempted to pry Emerald off of her.

"Oh Ame-Babe, I'm just showing my _favoritest person in the whole wide world_ how much I love her," Emerald squealed as he rubbed his cheek against hers in some type of Arceus-forsaken nuzzle.

Amethyst was turning green in disgust and red in anger; she absolutely _hated_ Emerald sometimes. She heard a snort that turned into a vainly repressed chuckle from her side and she turned her glaring amethyst eyes towards it.

Ace had to admit, it was hilarious watching Emerald and Amethyst interact; the guy must have been on crack. Ace pushed is hands over his mouth when he saw Amethyst glaring and tried to stifle his laughter. Beside him, OJ was glaring at the green haired man assaulting _his_ Amethyst.

Sapphire smiled at her two sibling's antics and walked up to her older brother and pulled on his sleeve, "I think you should let Amethyst go brother, she's not very happy."

Emerald stopped nuzzling (Arceus, Amethyst _hated_ that word) Amethyst and looked down at his blue sister fondly, though he didn't let go of his purple one. After all, he didn't often actually catch Amethyst. She was getting too skilled at avoiding his hugs after all the years, and, he winced slightly as Amethyst got one of her arms free and socked him in the jaw, she was getting stronger. He was happy she didn't get a direct hit since she was in an awkward position; it was probably going to bruise as is.

"Saph-Baby! How is my littlest sister?" Emerald asked smiling and ignored the teenager in his arms pushing viciously against him.

Sapphire sighed as her brother completely ignored last statement and looked down next to him, "I'm fine, but I think Bloom is trying to tell you something."

Emerald look down to see that Bloom, his leafeon, was desperately trying to get his attention with Storm and Gypsy aiding their sister. Bloom pawed at her master's leg and looked up at him, exasperated, as if he was forgetting something.

…Was he forgetting something?

"Brother, didn't I ask you to go out here to get everyone?" a silky voice that caused almost everyone in the courtyard to stiffen.

Alayna grinned when she saw her idol walk into the courtyard and smirked as she saw everyone stiffen. The heathens were lucky that Diamond even graced them with their presence. Alayna sashayed to where Diamond stood and smiled up at her, "Hello Diamond, it's a pleasure to see you."

Diamond smirked back down at her and patted her head, "Well, if it isn't my favorite recruit? It's nice to see you too Alayna."

Amethyst scowled at two of her least favorite people in the team. Both didn't like her, both had the same opinion of her, and both pissed her the hell off. They both made her scowl almost as much as Onyx and that was just unacceptable.

Amethyst looked up to her brother's face when she felt him tense. She narrowed her eyes and tried to analyze his feelings. He didn't like Diamond, though he didn't openly show it like Amethyst and Onyx did. He was much stiffer around her, though he did put up a good pretense of being as cheerful as usual, and he didn't like her hanging around his younger siblings much. Amethyst was sure he loved her (could he even hate someone?) but he was just uneasy around her like everyone else.

Though she didn't get along with him, Amethyst was sure she knew her brother. After all, he was pretty much an open book, and what could he possibly want to hide?

As soon as he let go of her, Amethyst moved next to Sapphire, who was standing next to Yuzuki. Diamond's cold ice blue eyes slid over them, and they temporarily locked with her sister's violet ones. After a moment she smirked and flipped her dark tinted hair, "Well, come on. We have a meeting and everyone must come."

With that said she began walking back into the building with her younger blond counterpart following close behind her. After a couple moments hesitance, the rest of the members in the courtyard began to follow her.

Yuzuki looked up at the sky and shrugged. Dark clouds had begun to accumulate not too far off and seemed to be heading their way. Oh well, it looked like it was going to storm soon anyway. Hearing a rumble in the distance, she quickened her pace inside, but couldn't shake off a slight feeling of foreboding rising up in her.

….

Kristal shuffled her feet in the meeting room and took in the vibrations from the ground around her. It appeared that all of the Team Gem recruits and Jewel siblings were in the room, but the parents were absent. Oh well, though Topaz, the father, was okay, Ruby was clearly evil.

If it wasn't for her mother, Cecilia, that had made her join, she wouldn't be here in the first place. Her mother was a big supporter of Team Gem, having been Ruby's friend, and was absolutely outraged when she heard that her daughter believed that Ruby was a hypocrite.

Her mother threw a fit and made her to join to "see the error of her ways". Don't get her wrong, Kristal believed that the people who joined the team were good people and had the right intentions; she just didn't think much of Team Gem itself.

"Hey blondie," someone murmured from a little in front of her. Kristal swung her head that way, her blond hair in a low side ponytail swinging slightly, and her unseeing eyes settled in the general direction of the voice.

She moved her bare feet slightly and focused on the vibrations from the person in front of her. She immediately relaxed somewhat as she felt the hunched posture from the person. "Hey purple," she greeted and looked to her face.

"It still creeps the hell out of me when you look at me even though you shouldn't know where I am," Amethyst muttered, though she was smiling.

Kristal smiled, not offended, and kept her glossy blue eyes trained on Amethyst, almost as if to spite her. A white layer had settled over them, almost as if she was perpetually trying to see through mist that would never let up, "And the fact that your family is trying to take over the world freaks me out."

"World peace," Amethyst chided mockingly, "Not taking over the world. Whatever gave you that impression?"

Considering both of their mothers are friends and being the same age, the two naturally met when they were smaller. Both being failures to their mothers created a bond, and Kristal thinking Onyx was a power hungry asshole sealed the deal. The two were friends; Amethyst found Kristal's bluntness amusing, and Kristal thought that she wasn't as crazy as the rest of her family. Did Kristal trust her? Was it ever smart to trust a Jewel? Did Kristal even trust anyone? It didn't really matter to either if they trusted each other, being friends was enough.

"_Rose, roserade_," Kristal's pokemon said and nudged her trainer.

Kristal concentrated on the vibrations in the direction that her roserade had nudged her. It took her a moment, but she soon "saw" that a woman, no doubt Diamond, and another man a little behind her had taken the stage.

"I see her Iris," Kristal told her pokemon.

"No you don't."

Kristal punched Amethyst in the arm, who was laughing quietly at this point, and focused on the people on stage.

Diamond smirked as she looked over the people who surrounded the stage, now quieting as they saw her standing up there. Admittedly, she didn't command as much respect as her mummy, and gained a lot more hate than her, but she also had fear, and not many wished to cross her.

When there was quiet she started, her ice blue eyes gazing at them smugly, "Gordon, come here."

A man, about the same age as Diamond, came forward. He was wearing a tan trench coat over a brown suit and a brown fedora was covering his hair, though a bit of navy could be seen. His brown eyes were calm and stared forward, though he seemed slightly tense.

Gordon was the Jewel's bodyguard. After being discharged from the military, he had decided to apply as a bodyguard for rich families. After a demonstration of his skill, apparently Ruby and Topaz had been impressed and decided to hire him. Gordon never felt quite right around Ruby, who gives him the chills despite her motherly persona, and never speaks to either of the parents. He could care less about what they do though, since they sign his checks.

Gordon handed a piece of paper that he had been holding to Diamond and coolly backed away. As it turned out, he didn't like Diamond either.

Diamond kept the paper fisted in her hand and said nothing, keeping a smirk on her face. After a minute, a certain onyx-eyed teenager spoke up impatiently, "Well, what the hell is this all about?"

The icy-eyed woman's smirk increased, "Well, little brother, mummy and papa have decided that we're going on a mission."

This grabbed everyone's attention, much to Diamond's delight, and they looked at her intently. This would be the first –official- mission the team had done. It almost had seemed like they wouldn't be doing anything but training and bonding, but now it reoccurred to them that Team Gem had a goal…

"What's the mission?" Yuzuki called out, golden eyes curious.

"We're going to obliterate Team Avian," the twenty four year old announced giddily.

A gasp sounded from inside an air vent that overlooked the room. No! They couldn't fight Team Avian yet, she wasn't ready! She hadn't found out the two teams true objectives… The person slipped back down the vent and hurriedly disappeared around the corner.

The room was alive with talking, some surprised at the sudden action, some excited, and some dreading it. Diamond waited a moment before she went on, "This paper," she gestured the paper clenched in her fist, "holds the names of the people who will be participating in mission."

"We're not all going on the mission?" someone asked.

"That's what I said," Diamond said in a clipped tone and unrolled the paper, "Now here's whose going: well, I'm _obviously _the leader of this mission-"

"_Delightful_," muttered Rhina, arms folded across her chest and grimaced ever-so-slightly.

"-and out of the people going, I have picked Gordon to be my assistant, since he _is _my bodyguard."

Gordon grimaced ever-so-slightly.

"The others going are Onyx Jewels," said boy smirked happily, "Yuzuki Kagiri," she smiled excitedly, "Erika Thompson," she smiled nervously, "Kallen Phoenix," a teenager with shoulder length black hair and black eyes who was standing alone and hadn't said a word to anyone acknowledged her name being said by glancing up, "Toby Cruz," the black haired brown eyed boy smiled, "Luke Avery," green eyes glimmered as golden blond hair shook from a nod, "Ace Brake," the boy's eyes lit up in excitement, "and _Sapphire Jewels_."

There was a tense silence before it was shredded apart, "Are you_ fucking_ _insane_?"

Amethyst's violet eyes were blazing and her voice was a roar. Her body was nearly shaking with rage and even Diamond was taken aback, "Sapphire is _nine _you bitch, and even if she is a phenomenal battler, she _cannot_ go on a mission like this!"

"Are you jealous that your little sister gets to go and you don't Amethyst?" Diamond snarled cruelly.

Amethyst looked up at her incredulously, "I couldn't care less if I go on this _mission_," she hissed with contempt, "or not. I just don't want my kid sister to be hurt."

Amethyst slammed her hands on the stage, without realizing she had walked up to it, and glared heatedly at her older sister, who happily returned it. The tense silence was back, punctuated only by Amethyst's enraged heavy breathing.

After a few moments Diamond whispered, "You can scream at me all you want, but I didn't decide this, mummy did. You'll have to take this up with her if you have a problem."

"Then I will. Is she in her office?" Amethyst said without a pause.

"No. I don't know where she is. She took papa and left on business," Diamond sneered, her dark tinted icy hair falling in her face from looking down at her sister.

The girl's amethyst eyes hardened and became harder than diamond. Her older sister wasn't sure if she had ever seen her sister show this much emotion. Sure she knew that Amethyst was very protective of her younger sister, but she didn't think she would react this violently. It was almost as if she _knew_ something bad would happen. Though she tried to deny it even to herself, Diamond was getting a little nervous from her sister's sharp stare. Was she feeling…even fear? No, it couldn't be possible to be afraid of her failure sister…

"It's okay sis," a timid voice broke the silence. Over a dozen eyes turned to the form of a nervous little blue girl. "I want to help, and I'll be fine. You always say that I'm unbeatable, right? And mom wouldn't send me on a mission unless I could handle it, right?"

"Sapphire…" Amethyst muttered, eyes softening.

Gathering up resolve and appearing more confident, Sapphire said, "I'll be fine sis, nothing bad will happen to me."

Releasing the stage, by now her knuckles were pure white, energy seemed to pour out of Amethyst. She lowered her head and her lavender hair shadowed her face. She stepped back from the stage and began to walk back to where she was standing before. She paused before Sapphire and gave her a pat and murmured, "Be careful," and said nothing for the rest of the meeting, appearing drained.

After a moment, Diamond shook out of her stupor and made her face fierce, "If anyone else has a problem with being picked: deal with it. If you have a problem with not being picked, then I'll tell you why you weren't."

She pointed to Emerald, who had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire meeting, "We need someone in charge, though Arceus knows why mummy picked you." She pointed to OJ next, "You don't even know where you are half the time." Rhina "You have to work on some project." Alayna "I need you here." Kristal "You're _blind_." She paused, pointing to Amethyst, "_Useless_."

"We set out tomorrow, I suggest you be ready," Diamond twirled away and stalked off stage, gesturing for a quiet Gordon to follow her.

Nothing was said as the Team Gem members trickled out of the meeting room, Sapphire clutching Amethyst's arm tightly.

…

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" asked Ace worriedly the next morning.

"I'll be fine," Amethyst reassured, though it did little to reassure Ace. Amethyst had dark circles under her eyes and seemed more distant than usual. It seemed as if all the energy had been sucked out of her body from yesterday. She wasn't inactive though, you could see in her eyes that she was thinking, and she responded whenever someone talked to her.

"I have Kristal here, and OJ will make sure to never leave me alone. Take care of yourself, you're the one going on the mission," Amethyst reassured further, actually looking at Ace when she said the last part.

"I will, don't worry. The Avian won't know what hit them."

The two were in the front of the building, with just about every other Team Gem member. The front had many trees shading the area, and the end of the island was in sight. Many water and some flying pokemon were waiting at the edge; waiting to take their trainers to their enemy's base.

In the shadow of the branches of a particularly big tree stood two figures; both clearly male. The first and slightly shorter spoke, "They're clueless, huh?"

"Yeah, the Gems _won't know what hit them_," the second and taller smirked, imitating what Ace had said moments before.

"You're sure they won't see that sub of yours?"

"It's under water; of course they won't see it. I'm just thankful that Lauren and Mika didn't bang it up when they came here."

"How do you have a _sub_ anyway?"

"…It doesn't matter Corey. I had a sub, and they most likely would have seen us if we were on our pokemon, so just be happy I had one."

"Whatever Arthur."

"That's _Captain_ Arthur to you."

"Just because he made you second in command doesn't mean I have to call you _Captain_," Corey said angrily.

Arthur waved it off, "Yeah, yeah. We'll finish this argument later. We have to report to the boss that everything is going as planned."

A gentle wind brushed through the platinum blond hair of the second in command of Team Avian and stormy gray eyes flashed smugly. The nineteen year old crouched on the branch next to his three years younger companion and tapped on his headphone.

"Yeah, boss? I have good news…"

….

_**And here comes the plot! I also finished introducing the rest of Team Gem, and even introduced two more Team Avian members :) Also, I added two characters, Toby and Luke, for reasons that will be explained later.**_

_**This chapter turned out longer than I expected…though I'm sure I'm quite happy with it…oh well.**_

_**Anyways, if you're OC isn't going on the mission, don't worry. It won't exactly be quiet over at the base :P**_

_**Attention: I won't be accepting any more OCs! Any more and I won't be able to keep track of them.**_

_**Attention again: I have a pole up on my profile for the name of the Team Avian leader. I know his personality and everything…just not his name ^.^' be sure to vote for it! **_

_**That's it! R&R and all that :)**_


	5. Axel and the Avian

_**I actually got this out in time! a~maz~ing :P **_

_**Also, I lied last chapter, I forgot another member of Team Gem ^.^' I formally apologize to **__**Nightmares and Dreams**__**, and you will be seeing your Team Gem character chapter after the next, and your Avian one this chapter :)**_

_**Oh yeah, and you know my soccer game from chapter three? I won! :P**_

_**Thanks to:**_

_**Shadowjohn 101**_

_**Lancelot-Albion**_

_**Korona Karyuudo**_

_**Nightshade07**_

_**Mo12341234**_

_**LightningThieves**_

_**For Reviewing! Special thanks to **__**SugarPesticide**__** for your super long review. I salute you my grammar Nazi friend :D **_

_**Disclaimer: Would I be writing a fanfiction about pokemon if I owned it? I think not.**_

Welcome to the Family

"_-and they're coming at this moment. They're completely underestimating us._"

"Yeah, that sounds like Ruby. I'm sure they don't know where our base is exactly located though, so it'll take them a while to find us. I'd like you and Spina to come back to base."

"_What? But that'd be a complete waste of time!_"

"Not if I have Andy's gallade teleport there to get you and then teleport you guys back."

"_Why the hell didn't we just do that in the first place instead of taking my __**expensive**__ sub then? It would have been so much faster too!_"

"Because it would have been a strain on the pokemon to go that far a distance so often and we need it there anyway; stop your whining. Are you nine or nineteen?"

"_You as-"_

The man took off his headphones and put a hand over the speaker. He completely ignored the faint cursing and shouting still audible from the communication device and shouted, "Hey Andy, would you mind coming over here?"

The teenager walked over with a bit less spunk in her step than usual. The girl was probably still one of the oddest people he'd ever seen. Her coral colored hair swooped all the way down to her hip with little braids, feathers, beads, and a bunch of other weird accessories strewn in it. Her clothing followed her odd style with a green tank top over some kind of fishnet shirt, very baggy camo pants held up only by a belt and she finished her outfit with fingerless gloves with bangles running up and down her wrists.

The girl looked up at him slightly forlornly with her odd black eyes that faded to green towards the middle and gold flecks. Not seeing the usual laughter in her eyes, the middle aged man took a quick look over her again and noticed something missing in her hair.

He sighed and his hand hit his forehead in exasperation, "Andy, were you gambling, _again_?"

"I couldn't help it, the guys asked if I wanted to, and I couldn't resist!" The girl cried out in defense.

With another sigh, the man's dark brown eyes traveled to the table located farther in the room where many guys were snickering. His eyes came to rest on a particular object that one of his most troublesome recruits held.

"Sebastian, give Andy her Lunar Wing back."

"But I won it fair and square!" the eighteen year old protested, his deep green eyes sparkling in defiance.

"You know Andy can't gamble for anything, and she's a damn gambling addict! You should know better than to offer her to join."

"But Lauren said no when we asked her! Andy should be able to too!"

"Lauren thinks you all are idiots. She also doesn't have a gambling problem."

"But-"

"No buts! Just give her the Arceus-damned thing back!"

Sighing in defeat, the light brunette got up to hand the precious Lunar Wing back to its rightful owner. The sixteen year old happily took it with her usual spark coming back.

The rest of the guys at the table had broken into hysterics by now from the exchange; laughing at their comrade's bad luck. The leader of the group sighed. He swore that his younger members were more serious than his older ones.

"Thanks boss!" Andy said happily, rejoicing that she got her Lunar Wing back. She wove it into the rightful place in her hair and stood at attention.

"Right, I need you to take your gallade to the Gem's base and teleport Arthur and Corey back here."

The teenager nodded in understanding. She grabbed the right pokeball from her belt and released the waiting pokemon in a flash of light. The gallade appeared in a sturdy and calm position. He dipped his head towards who he knew to be the leader and then turned expectantly towards his trainer.

"Seeker, I need you to teleport us to the Gem's base so we can get Arthur and Corey," Andy explained.

Seeker nodded in understanding and he closed his eyes in focus. "_Ga-lade, gallade!_" The two were surrounded in a bright blue light and then they disappeared.

A smirk slid across the brunette's lips, but it disappeared just as quickly. Uncovering the headphones, he slipped them back on and spoke, "Arthur?"

"_Yes?_" he asked back with false calmness, making sure his boss knew clearly that he was angry for being ignored.

"Labra is on her way to pick you up."

"_I expected as much_."

"…I'm also going to want you here at base for this mission."

"_What? That's bull!_"

"Shut up and listen. You know the Jewel sibling Diamond?"

"_Yeah…_"

"I want you to handle her. She's probably the biggest threat since Ruby and Topaz won't be with them. I'll be counting on you."

"_You don't have to worry about me! I'll handle her easy, and as a bonus, she's hot! I like the way you think Axel_."

"You little brat, don't you know it's disrespectful to call your elders by their first name?"

"_Like hell you care!_"

Axel smiled at his second in command's response and replied, "You are a little brat, you know. I'm starting the meeting now. Just pop in when you get here."

"_Gotcha_."

Axel turned off and put away his headphones. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then turned to the people that were still at the table farther in the room.

"Hey, we're having a meeting over the mission. Get your asses to the meeting room." The guys got up with minimal complaints, excited that they finally had a mission.

After watching them go, Axel called out, "Moon, would you mind getting the others from their rooms, or wherever they're lurking?"

A cat-like pokemon daintily hopped from one of the high windows in the neat white room and landed in front of Axel. The delcatty looked up at him with pretty brown eyes, and her well groomed cream and purple fur marked that of a well-loved pokemon. She stared at her trainer with adoration and with a quick, "_Catty_," in consent, she took off quickly out of the room.

Axel watched his starter pokemon go off fondly, and then strode towards the door. He paused in front of a mirror and glanced at his reflection. He looked at a man, most likely in his forties, with dark brown eyes and scruffy hair to match it. He would probably need a shave soon, and had an easy-going look. His eyes held a look of past enthusiasm and determination –as he grew to learn most boys who had aspired to become a pokemon master possessed- and there was growing bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. Though he knew he was no giant like Topaz, he had a sturdy enough build for someone to think twice about messing with him. The thing that caught the eye though, was a, admittedly shallow, scar that spanned his right cheek.

Shaking his head at the memories that had begun to stir up, Axel finished his walk out of the room and began making his way down the hall. If he knew Ruby, as he was sure he did, her base was probably dark and gothic (he had not been to the base himself, for reasons that he couldn't tell his team). She had always had flair for the dramatic, and in his opinion, the cliché.

He, himself, enjoyed a lighter tone to his base. He simply had white walls that reflected the light from the multiple windows throughout the base. Most of the floors were either nice blue carpeting or tile. Something both he and Ruby _could_ agree on was there preference for being situated by water. As he had foretold, and had confirmed, Ruby's base was on an island. Unfortunately, Ruby had probably also foretold his base being on a cliff above the ocean.

It was ridiculous, really, how they both could know each other so well, and become such rivals after knowing each other for such a short amount of time. They had never seen each other after that day so many years ago, and if he was right, their next encounter would be their last.

Shaking his head once again to get rid of his thoughts, Axel turned a corner and entered into a room through double doors. The meeting room was large with a rectangular table in the middle. On the far side of the room, the wall had been turned into one big window, and you could see the scene of the ocean from a perfect view. Many of the bored Team Avian members gazed out of it, but snapped to attention when their leader came in.

Axel seated himself at the head of the table and noticed that the chair to his right was empty, meaning Arthur hadn't gotten back yet. He took this as a sign that Andy was, hopefully, taking care to not be seen by the Team Gem members still occupying their base and was searching for her two teammates surreptitiously.

To his right sat a woman in her early twenties with light brown skin, dusty brown curly hair and faded blue eyes that almost made it appear that she was blind, though that was not the case. She was speaking to a man that seemed a little older than her and had blond hair and very bright blue eyes. As the conversation wore on, you could see the female getting increasingly agitated as the male became increasingly flirty. As Axel expected, the woman finally brought out a gun she had strapped in her belt and the man instantly shut up.

Further down, he saw Mika, one of the two agents he had first sent to spy on the Gem's base, being his usual quiet and anti-social self. Next to him was his olive-eyed partner Lauren Silverfeather. She was talking calmly to a slightly older female with cotton candy pink and lavender pixie cut hair who was talking back quite animatedly.

Next to where his second in command would be sitting and across from the flirty blond was an emotionless twenty year old with (surprisingly) natural silver hair and cold green eyes. He was, successfully, ignoring a man with deep blue eyes and dark blond hair that was two seats away from him (Corey usually taking the seat in the middle) and was talking with great force about something Axel was sure he didn't want to know about. After skipping another seat where Andy would usually sit, sat Sebastian who every so often cut into the conversation of the girls who were sitting across from him.

Moon jumped neatly onto the meeting table and sat down in front of Axel, signaling the end of the conversations going around the table. Axel just about sighed, again: sometimes he thought that his delcatty commanded more respect than him. It was a ridiculous thought if you just considered the reputation of the pokemon species itself, but after seeing the cat-like pokemon rip apart every pokemon it faced in battle, usually not sustaining a scratch, you come to know not to screw with Moon.

After making sure he had everyone's attention (or at least Moon did), Axel started, "As I'm sure you're more than aware, Team Gem has set out to destroy us, not knowing that we were ready and are more than prepared for it. I know you guys already know the plan: some will stay here to defend the base, and the rest of the team will go invade Team Gem's base. I'll cut to the chase and give the list of whose going and who's staying."

The team nodded seriously and watched Axel intensely. Though he already knew who was going and who wasn't, Axel scanned through the expressions of his team. He was proud to see that not one of them looked nervous or regretful of being there. Axel honestly didn't think he would get as many willing recruits as he did, or that they would stay. He gave them many opportunities to leave the team, since they aren't guaranteed to survive, but whether it was due to personal reasons or loyalty, none of them left. This, Axel couldn't help but admit to himself, made him the happiest he had been in years.

"The following people will be attacking the base: Rayne Brake, Lars Tsaubern" the emotionless twenty year old with silver hair and his rough companion both acknowledged their names, "Corey Spina, Lauren Silverfeather, Kate Mika," Mika scowled at the use of his first name while Lauren chuckled slightly, "and Candy Banks." The teenager with pink and lavender hair whooped happily and her light milky brown eyes sparkled.

"Though it should be obvious who's staying here, I'll list the names anyway: Arthur Whirlpool, Sebastian Michaels, Andy Labra, and we'll need our ultimate hunting duo Alice Marks and Kraig Arton." The flirty blond and curly haired brunette smirked.

"Well, it looks like we'll both be staying here, eh Andy? And I didn't hear your name Corey, so I suppose you'll be on the attack," Arthur announced loudly as he and both of his companions walked through the door, just in time to hear who's staying.

"You have impeccable timing, as usual Arthur," Axel said airily as he motioned for the new comers to take their seats.

After they were settled, Axel went on, "I know some of you would like to set out right now, but you'll have to wait a couple of days. We're going to lull the Gems at the base into a false sense of security, and then strike. We also don't have to worry about the other Gems finding us before we attack them; they have only a slight clue where we are, and we're even in a different region so they'll have to finish searching Johto before they even think of coming here. Take these next days to rest up and get ready. Any questions?"

"Where are you going to be, Axel?" Candy questioned curiously.

"Ah, I'll be on a separate mission. I'll probably somewhere close to where Ruby is currently located or in Sinnoh," the man said. Though some were not completely satisfied with that answer, they accepted in anyway, knowing Axel wasn't going to say anything else.

Axel nodded to everyone at the table and said, "Dismissed. Team Avian, we're going to win this!"

An unseen being watched the meeting somewhat concernedly and whispered, "I thought I told you not to underestimate him, Ruby?"

Then it disappeared.

…..

_**We finally met Team Avian, and its leader Axel! The next chapters will be split between both halves of Team Gem and Team Avian. I'll probably build up more of the OCs, focus more on the pokemon, then get back on track with the plot.**_

_**What do you think about Axel? Like him, hate him? Also, I'll give a prize to whoever can guess the location of the Team Avian base, or figure out Axel's relationship with Ruby, or the identity of the mysterious force (I suggest you go for the first or second one, there's no way in hell you'll get the third).**_

_**Anyway, do you know what I just noticed about the anime? Ash is a total Gary-Stu. It's kinda funny :D**_

_**That's it! R&R :)**_


	6. With Team Gem at the Base

_**As you might have noticed, this chapter is out early. Yeah, that's because I'm going on vacation on Thursday and wouldn't have been able to get it out. Be grateful! Also, the next chapter should be put up around when it is supposed be up (as is Friday or Saturday- not Tuesday) **_

_**Thanks to:**_

_**Spartan20**_

_**Shadowjohn 101**_

_**Lancelot-Albion**_

_**Mo12341234**_

_**Korona Karyuudo**_

_**Nightmares and Dreams**_

_**Song of the Moon**_

_**For reviewing! **_

_**Also, for the guesses to where the Team Avian base is located, you guys have had some really good guesses. In fact, I'm actually considering moving it to one of the places you guys have suggested XD but, one of **__**Lancelot-Albion**__**'s guesses have been the closest, FYI :P**_

_**As for Ruby and Axel's relationship, well, here's a hint: remove any romantic notions you may have about them from your mind. Ruby's a psycho and I would never do that to Axel ;.; And as for the mysterious force: I would be scared if you **__**had**__** guessed it right. The mysterious force…is **_**very**_** complicated.**_

_**Important (sort of): I wanted to let you guys know as I was planning out the plot, it turns out this story takes a dark turn. I like dark fics, but I haven't done one myself. Once we get to that point (trust me, you'll know it when you see it) I'm going to ask you to give me your honest opinion. I will change it if you think it should be, because at least one part is **__**really **__**dark. Anyway, that won't be for a little while, so don't worry about it right now :)**_

_**Disclaimer: Would I be writing a fanfiction about pokemon if I owned it? I think not.**_

Welcome to the Family

"Hey Rhina, what did you want me to do?" Amethyst asked; though it was slightly muffled from the toast she was having for breakfast.

Amethyst, for once, had her long lavender hair up in a high ponytail. She still wore her usual skinny jeans, but she wore a black tank top instead of her usual violet and light purple tie-dye t-shirt. She shivered slightly, not used to being parted from the heavy black trench-coat she had become accustomed to wearing and flexed her bear toes.

Amethyst was sitting Indian style quite comfortably on her metagross' head and had a laptop balanced slightly precariously on her lap. After finishing her toast, she dusted off her hands well away from the laptop, careful not to get anything on the expensive machine.

Rhina's gray eyes looked momentarily away from the large piece of metal that sat in front of her. It was a curious looking thing with multiple wires sticking out, nuts, bolts, and screws were half on, you could still see the inside of it, and it was still roughly shaped. The last problem was being sorted out by a typhlosion that breathed fire on the metal, and a dragonite wearing thick black fireproof gloves that then shaped it. A luxray also worked on correcting the loose screws; he adeptly held a screwdriver in his mouth and with surprising efficiency screwed them in. It was this last pokemon who had caused Gypsy to run up Amethyst's shoulder and her fur to stand on end when he took a glance at her every once in a while.

"I need you and your metagross to work on the hardware I set up for my invention. I wouldn't normally ask you to do it, but I'm running low on time and I heard you were fairly good with technology and your metagross could hack computers," Rhina explained as she went back to work. She wouldn't usually ask for Amethyst's help, but Sapphire had been helping her when she could and since she's now gone, Rhina was sorely missing the helping hand. Rhina also felt Amethyst was capable enough for the job she had set her after the purple teen had given her a demonstration of her skill.

Amethyst nodded to the twenty year old who was clad in only a sports bra and shorts (this had bothered Amethyst for a second before she got over it; it was her workshop anyway, she could wear whatever she wanted) and went to work.

"Hey IQ, could you hack into the computer's mainframe and help me out?" Amethyst asked her pokemon.

"_Gross_," the metagross, IQ, said in confirmation. His eyes began to glow and Amethyst smiled as she saw some of the data she was sifting through get processed faster thanks to her pokemon. Amethyst shifted slightly as Gypsy draped herself across her trainer's shoulders, and they both became comfortable.

After a few minutes of silent work, Amethyst was surprised when the older girl spoke up, "You know, it's not a very good strategy to use only psychic pokemon," she spoke in a matter-a-fact manner.

After gathering that she was referring to IQ and Gypsy and had assumed that she possessed only psychic pokemon, she explained, "Oh, I know. Not even Ruby would want that much uniformity; she's a trainer, she couldn't stand for such a flawed team. Gypsy and IQ are my only psychic pokemon. I also have a flying/dragon type, a dark/fire, a ghost/bug, and a normal type."

"Well then, considering Onyx is your twin, he must have all opposite pokemon to yours, right? After all, no evil villain cliché is complete without two exact opposite trainers; even if they happen to be in the same team," the dark blond deadpanned.

After a moment of silence Amethyst tentatively asked, "Was that…a joke?"

After getting a bob of the head in affirmation, Amethyst smiled and both girls went back to work; feeling slightly more content.

….

"Quartz, come back here!" Kristal called exasperatedly.

The little baby couldn't even walk yet, being only a year and half old, so he, per se, wasn't the problem. No, it was the fact that his pokemon (how does a baby already have four pokemon?) wouldn't leave him alone. This would normally be a good thing, but considering they were all curious to explore the base and the chikorita had no problem with lugging him around on her back; it had turned into a bad thing. At least for Kristal who had babysitting duties dumped on her.

Normally Amethyst would watch over Quartz (which is a good thing considering she's Jaws, Cinders, and Ivy's real owner; they listen to her), but since she's helping out Rhina and Rhina's lab is too dangerous to have a tot in, she couldn't look after her younger brother. Since this also makes Rhina unavailable, Emerald would be the next best choice. Unfortunately, for Kristal, Amethyst didn't feel comfortable with her childish brother taking care of Quartz, and they didn't even know where the nineteen year old frolicked (no, he literally skipped away from them) off to anyway. Alayna wasn't even an option in the first place, but she had to look after OJ so he doesn't wonder off somewhere anyway. Kristal wasn't sure who she felt worse for; though Alayna was a bitch; OJ _really _hated her (since she messes with Amethyst) and often tries to sabotage her. On the other hand, Alayna hates OJ and was very pissed when Rhina dumped him on her after she decided he was too careless to be in her workshop (where he wanted to be since his dear Amethyst was there).

In the end, Kristal wasn't even sure she could get out of babysitting even if she could have pulled off the blind card. She had to admit, Amethyst could put up a good argument when she wanted to; Kristal's argument about not babysitting was short and went like this:

"Kristal, I need you to babysit Quartz."

"No way Amethyst, I'm not doing it."

"And why can't you?"

"I'm _blind_, perhaps?"

"Bull; you've taught yourself to "see" vibrations from the ground. Not to mention you're easily the most dependable person I know and I'm sure you can handle watching a one and a half year old. He can't even _walk_, for Arceus' sake."

"…You're a bitch."

Kristal felt her last statement was right on. Though Amethyst was right about Quartz, she had forgot to mention that his pokemon was evil incarnate. Damn, she would need to work on her excuses.

"Ivy, stop running right now!" Kristal demanded the chikorita as she continued to chase them down the hallway.

"_Chikor! Chikorita!_" Ivy called back, and from what Kristal could tell from the vibrations she was concentrating on from the little grass pokemon, stuck her tongue out at Kristal too.

Though she was keeping her temper in check, Kristal felt her agitation rise steadily. Part of her agitation was that she had to run slower than she could so that she could make sure she had the full scope of the hallway so she didn't run into anything. Another part was that Jaws, Cinders, and Abel (Quartz's blood-brother eevee) were knocking down anything they could to make Kristal slip. The only good thing in this situation was that Ivy had a firm grip on Quartz with her vines and he didn't seem unhappy at all, in fact, he was laughing.

"Abel!" he squealed, though it was admittedly very slurred, and giggled happily as his eevee pup eagerly raced up to him and licked his face affectionately.

Now, as far as Kristal remembered, babies don't start talking until they're at least two. Sure, Quartz could only say parts of people's names (except for Abel, Cinders, Jaws, and Ivy who he could pronounce fully), but he shouldn't be able to say anything _at all_. If Kristal also remembered correctly, Sapphire had been just like this when she was a baby. Great, just what she needed; another genius Jewel.

"_Chik, chikorita_!" Ivy commanded to Jaws who grinned wider than before and nodded with a "_Totodile_!"

Jaws quickly turned around and sprayed a _water gun _all over the floor. Not expecting the sudden water, Kristal slipped and fell ungracefully. The three Johto starter pokemon stopped to laugh at her, though Abel urged them to go on while glancing at her nervously. The young pup was smart; she had had enough.

"That's it," the misty-eyed girl growled as she sat up and reached for her pokeball.

"Let's go Iris!" she called as she released her roserade. "Get those pokemon and Quartz!"

"_Rose_," the plant pokemon said as she took off after the young pokemon who were already running (and screaming; Kristal noted in satisfaction) down the hall and after carefully maneuvering from the water puddle, Kristal was soon following.

With a burst of sudden energy, Kristal soon caught up to the chase, much to the young pokemon's dismay. Kristal sensed that her roserade friend was attempting to nab the smaller pokemon with _vine whip_, but the cyndaquil kept her at bay, for the moment, with wild _embers_. Yes! Those little devil pokemon would soon taste oh-so-bitter defeat, Kristal smirked.

Kristal sensed him, suddenly, but the pokemon were too caught up in the chase to notice. In vain she cried, "Wait! Stop!" The hallways of the Team Gem base resounded from the loud crash, though if any of its other occupants heard, they skillfully ignored it.

"Ugh, what happened?" Emerald groaned from under the pile of Kristal and pokemon. Kristal's lower body was splayed on top of him while her upper body and head rested on the floor. Iris was draped across her legs- and she noted painfully that for a flower, she was quite heavy. Kristal felt more than saw (since at the moment all the vibrations were rather erratic, and she was in too much pain to fully concentrate) the water and grass starters collapsed on her stomach. From Emerald's complaining of his legs, she assumed that Cinders was located there; she winced in understanding at the thought of the much larger-than-normal cyndaquil crushing his legs.

For a moment, Kristal panicked when she felt that Ivy no longer had hold of Quartz. It soon dissipated though when she had gathered enough of her wits to sense that Abel had somehow managed to grab his best friend from Ivy and, Kristal was sure, preformed some impossible move to be able to land on top of the heap; scotch free. It was even more impressive considering Quartz was about the same size as Abel and the same age.

"Abel!" Quartz cooed, his light brown eyes shining happily.

"_Vee, eevee_!" Able chirped back happily and snuggled into Quartz's brown hair.

Now, Kristal mused, she knew who the real evil incarnates are. Was it wrong to be slightly terrified of an eevee pup and a baby who couldn't even walk?

"Emerald, you're babysitting next time," Kristal groaned as she attempted to heave up the pokemon weighing her down, gave up after a second, and resigned to her fate of waiting until the pokemon could manage to get up.

"You're all…crushing…me," Emerald wheezed.

"Suck it up."

"You're…so...mean…Kris-Mist!"…she hated that name.

…..

Ignoring the distant crash she had heard, Alayna glared at her four year junior. She was already pissed when that bitch Rhina told her _she _had the look after OJ since Amethyst was helping her out and he'd probably impale himself, or something, in her workspace, but she wasn't allowed refuse.

Emerald had announced that Rhina would his "second in command" after she had chased him out of her workspace –again- with a well aimed wrench because, "She's super scary and you'll have to listen to her unless you want to be hurt (insert stars and hearts here)." Though she partially agrees with him on that, she hated how the man made everything like an Arceus-damned musical!

Diamond also briefed her before she left for her mission to keep an eye on Rhina (her sworn enemy), to keep Emerald from screwing anything up, and making sure the other idiots didn't break anything. Considering OJ's dazed and confused personality, he would be the perfect candidate to break something, and since Diamond (her idol) told her this mustn't happen, Alayna had no choice but to watch the dark-eyed idiot.

Though Alayna could, grudgingly, except this, she could _not _accept OJ constantly bugging her, having his pokemon play jokes on her, and even trying to _off_ her. The little psycho was deranged! He had some weird crush on Muk (as she had come to call Amethyst in all her purpleness) and since was Amethyst's rival (if Amethyst could even be qualified as a rival, since she was obviously no competition to Alayna), apparently that warranted him to get rid of her.

"OJ…" she hissed threateningly as she took a step towards the twelve year old.

"_Lux_…" OJ's luxio, Roxx, growled back threateningly at her approach. OJ stared back at her with a lack-luster gaze, though there was a hint of a glare behind it.

After another step, Alayna stopped suddenly and looked around cautiously. Where was the boy's kirlia? Alayna screamed as she felt something gooey being dumped on her luscious dirty blond hair and glared venomously at the laughing kirlia who was floating above her.

"Get him!" the sixteen year old screeched and pointed furiously at the psychic pokemon.

A black shadow whooshed passed her as her shiftry nearly pounded the other trainer's kirlia with a _dark pulse_. The male kirlia, snickering, teleported just in time and reappeared next to OJ, "Are you okay Joker?" OJ asked somewhat airily. Joker nodded happily and Roxx scooted a bit more between him and OJ, glaring.

Meanwhile, Alayna wiped some of the goo off her hair and was horrified when she saw it was glue. She quickly stripped her red jacket off so none of the glue would drip on it, leaving her in a white tank top and short blue skirt. She saw her shiftry stepping menacingly towards OJ and his pokemon, and though she had more than half a mind to let him beat the shit out of them…she really needed to wash the glue out of her hair before it dried.

"Come on Shiftry, you can beat the hell out of the later (no really, she insisted he did), but I need to take a shower right now. If the little demon spawn or his pokemon even come close to my room though, pound them," she sniffed and walked out of one of the many unused rooms in the house she had chased OJ into, and strode to her room; stiff with anger and weighed down with glue. Shiftry reluctantly followed his master after shooting one last dark glare at his new-found enemies.

OJ yawned and abruptly collapsed against his luxio. "I wonder when Amethyst will be done. Oh well, I'm tired so I'll take a nap before dinner," the brunette boy mumbled and promptly fell asleep. After making sure his master was okay, Joker grinned mischievously and started to walk/float away.

He was slightly surprised when he felt a tug. He looked down to see that Roxx had a hold of him. Joker tried to pull away, but paused in horror when he saw the electric pokemon had his pokeball under his paw and let out an indignant "_Kir_!" in protest when he was sucked in. Roxx sniffed as he somewhat clumsily reattached the pokeball to OJ's belt; that's what that pokemon got for getting his master in so much trouble. Though he had to admit he didn't particularly mind it when he pranked the shrill blond human.

Chuckling lightly under his breath after remembering her outraged face, Roxx curled up comfortably around his master and soon fell asleep to the rhythm of OJ's steady breath.

…..

"What's for dinner?" Kristal asked as she sat at the long dinner table, waiting patiently for dinner with the rest of the present Team Gem.

"I helped Rhina make spaghetti, since apparently you guys are useless and can't make food without causing a fire," Amethyst answered in a faux superior tone.

"Is that right purple?" Kristal jokingly challenged.

"Yeah, it is blondie," Amethyst challenged back.

"Either way, I really appreciate how _purple _helped me carry all this," Rhina deadpanned with a sarcastic edge to her voice as she carried two large plates of spaghetti from the door that connected the dining room to the kitchen.

"That would have been work," Amethyst drawled lazily, "And why are you calling me purple? I must say that was a very uncreative nickname Kristal gave me- ow! You didn't have to hit me!"

"I agree, Muk is a much more suitable nickname for Amethyst," Alayna quipped snidely from her place at the table. Her hair looked suspiciously stiffer than normal, though when Amethyst brought it up; Alayna avoided the question and settled to glare at OJ.

"No way! Ame-Babe is _so _much better!" Emerald whined childishly from his seat.

"You should just call her Amethyst," OJ commented sleepily, having just woken up from his nap when Amethyst got him from the empty room he was sleeping in.

"Yea!" Quartz yelled from his high chair where he contentedly sucked his bottle full of milk. Abel was squeezed in right next to him and happily accepted the milk when Quartz offered it to him every so often.

"The only people that are on my side are OJ and Quartz," the purple haired teen grumbled and seemingly painfully got up after much prodding from Kristal to help Rhina with the spaghetti plates.

After everyone got a full plate of spaghetti, there was a contented silence in the dining hall as its occupants enjoyed the surprisingly good food and the light atmosphere. At times like these, you really could mistake Team Gem for one big dysfunctional family, and it was times like these that made it seemed that Ruby's intentions were true.

It was times like these that Team Gem missed.

…

_**That was a look at how the people at the base are holding up. I had a lot of fun writing it; things aren't going to be peaceful for much longer though :(**_

_**Yep, so I guess I'll be seeing you after my vacation! I hope you all liked this chapter, and you'll be seeing what the rest of Team Gem is up to in the next :)**_

_**Also, a mega cookie for anyone that can figure out the rest of Amethyst's team!**_

_**R&R~**_

_**-Kami**_


	7. With Team Gem on the Road

…_**Sorry this is out so late ^.^' Quite frankly, I was just being lazy at first, but then I got a porn virus –yes a **__porn__**virus- on by computer (which was actually just part of it, but that's what I'm calling it) so I've been using my dad's computer for the last while; which doesn't have any of my stories on it. The people in India (who McAfee always hires) finally fixed it though, so we're all good!**_

_**Thanks to:**_

_**Spartan20**_

_**Mo12341234**_

_**Absh**_

_**Korona Karyuudo**_

_**Shadowjohn 101**_

_**LightningThieves**_

_**The Lemonator**_

_**Song of the Moon**_

_**For Reviewing! And congrats to **__**Shadowjohn 101 **__**who got all of Amethyst's team right, except for the normal pokemon (and since there are a lot of them, I'd be surprised if you could single one out) I hope you enjoy your mega cookie :3**_

_**This is the last chapter before the invasions begin yay!**_

_**Disclaimer: Would I be writing a fanfiction about pokemon if I owned it? I think not.**_

Welcome to the Family

The ocean sprayed into the faces of the traveling Team Gem members as they traveled across the ocean. The beautiful blue water matched the sky with the exception of the fluffy white clouds traveling across it.

Elizabeth Michaels sighed in mild irritation at how long this search for the Team Avian base taking. The original hype was all fine and well, but they had been searching for nearly a week and had been disappointed to find that the base was nowhere to be found in Johto.

Diamond had reassured all of them that Ruby was absolutely sure that the base was located on a cliff overlooking an ocean; though how she could be so sure Elizabeth would never know. Though she trusted that the leader of the team must know what she was talking about (even if she was a little uncomfortable with her motherliness), she was sure she would scream if the base wasn't located in Hoenn; their current destination.

"_Starrr_," crooned the pokemon she was riding. Elizabeth fondly patted the staraptor –her first pokemon- and murmured, "I hope we find it soon too, Zodiac."

"Don't be so stiff, Lissa!" a cheerful voice called from bellow her.

Elizabeth's blue-gray eyes peered down from her bird pokemon to see the cheerful yellow-gold eyes of her six year junior. Yuzuki was riding on top of the shell of her gentle lapras. Unlike Elizabeth, she was enjoying traveling and not being stuck in one place.

"_Pras…_" the lapras spoke gently, also looking up at the older girl and her pokemon.

"See, Nikita thinks so too," Yuzuki chirped happily.

Looking down at her teammate with a perfect poker face, Elizabeth stated, "I am not _stiff _Yuzuki; I merely think we're wasting time by not having a more efficient way to search besides looking all over the oceans of every region."

"Isn't it fun to travel though?" Yuzuki argued –though not very seriously- back, "You don't have to be so business-like all the time Lissa."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond, but was rudely interrupted by a gush of water spraying up and hitting her head; thoroughly soaking it. She twitched in mild agitation as her chestnut brown hair was plastered to her face and darkened to the point where the black streaks blended in. Though the soaking was quick, it was hard and had left her sopping wet.

Almost mechanically, she turned her head and looked to the source of the water. At the source was a shocked and mortified Toby clutching his blastoise, Squirt, and staring right at her. If that wasn't enough evidence, one of Squirt's large cannons was aimed directly at her; well, her head to be more specific.

"Oh- I'm-I'm so sorry! I-I was aiming for the wingull behind you and I guess it was closer to your head than I thought….please don't kill me!" Toby cried and appeared terrified that she would kill him. Toby hadn't previously been this scared of the consequences of his actions, but after causing Kallen to mess up one of the drills she was having her pokemon do by distracting her, he learned to fear the wrath of an angry woman.

Glancing back behind her shoulder, Elizabeth saw a wingull –not very surprising since the sea was full of them in Hoenn- that was fluttering about. Why was Toby even aiming for the stupid bird? She really didn't care at the moment.

"…It's fine," the nineteen year old said stiffly, not attempting to even sound sincere.

"Really? Thank Arceus you never get mad! You're the best Lissa! The B-E-S-T!" he cheered, automatically brightening up, chocolate brown eyes shimmering. How was this guy the same age as her?

"Hey, why were you even shooting at the wingull in the first place? It's not very nice to pick on weaker pokemon and hurt them," Yuzuki accused, slightly mad that black-haired boy was planning on hurting the bird pokemon.

Uninterested in his reason, Elizabeth began tying up her shoulder-blade length hair into a neat ponytail and removed her wet white coat and tied it around her waist, leaving her in a fitted black t-shirt and black pants. She then directed Zodiac towards where Onyx was pestering Kallen, who looked ready to smack him. She wasn't particularly good friends with either of them, but she knew Toby was scared of Kallen and didn't like Onyx, so he wouldn't follow her. She didn't get irritated easily, but Toby reminded her of her cousin a lot…

Yuzuki and Toby took no notice of Elizabeth's departure, since the younger black haired blond banged girl was too busy glaring accusingly at her older counterpart and Toby was too busy trying, and failing, to explain.

"Don't mind Toby; he's an idiot. He was trying to blast down the bird because he saw that it was holding something," a smooth voice said as Luke Avery pulled up next to Toby.

"You know, if Kit had been trying to blast down that wingull, she wouldn't have missed," he pointed out and patted his swampert.

"_Swa!_" Kit agreed, nudging Toby's blastoise teasingly.

"No way! If anything, Kit has worse aim –no offense Kit- and Lissa was right in the way!" Toby argued back, glaring at his best friend.

"Don't be stupid, Squirt may be a good pokemon, but having a screw-up trainer like you train him probably threw off his aim," Luke smirked, green eyes flashing.

"Why you-"

"Wait, so you were trying to shoot down the wingull for the letter it was holding?" Yuzuki butted in incredulously. She had been trying to wait for the boys' argument to end, but she got the feeling it wouldn't be anytime soon. While they had been arguing, Yuzuki had been looking at the white and blue bird pokemon who was still hanging around by them, and even though it took a bit, she recognized the object it was holding as a letter.

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" Toby grinned when he turned his attention from his older blond friend to Yuzuki.

"Why?"

"We're nosy," Toby grinned wider with absolutely no shame.

"Hey, what's this 'we' stuff? You were the one trying to shoot it down!"

As another argument exploded between the two with Yuzuki and a cowering Nikita (the lapras' timid disposition caused her to fear loud arguments) in the middle, another two Team Gem members watched them in amusement and slight exasperation.

Sapphire giggled as she watched the two older boys argue, "Aren't they funny?"

Erika sighed slightly at the fight but chuckled a little bit too; she was beginning to think that the only way the boys knew how to interact was by yelling at each other, "I guess, but they might be going a little overboard."

"Probably, but they really are nice. Toby even let us ride Roger!" Sapphire smiled happily.

"_GYAR!" _Roger, the twenty-one foot long snake-like water pokemon, roared. The first time he did this Erika had been mildly terrified, but Toby assured her that this was a sign of affection. He seemed to really like Sapphire (who didn't). Her? Not so much.

The seventeen-year-olds nose crinkled as water was once again splashed into her face. Sapphire, who was sitting a bit in front of her, hadn't gotten one drop of water on her.

_Lup_," the small blue penguin-like pokemon in her arms comforted. Bubbles was her only water pokemon, but since she was only a small piplup and didn't plan on evolving anytime soon, she wouldn't be a very comfortable ride for their voyage on the sea. She did make a great traveling companion though, and enjoyed being able to jump in the water whenever she felt like it.

"I'm fine Bubbles, it's just-" Erika stopped mid-sentence has a particularly big splash of water drenched her. Again.

"_Pip!_" Bubbles cried angrily, glaring at the body of the sea serpent that was harassing her trainer. She hopped out of Erika's arms and began to stomp angrily on the body of the gyarados; firing off _drill pecks _here and there. "_Lup, piplup!_" she cried and preformed a particularly hard _drill peck_.

Before Erika could tell her pokemon what she was doing wasn't a very good idea, Roger bumped the segment of his body that the small penguin was attacking and popped her into the air; causing her to land in the ocean.

"Bubbles!" the brunette called worriedly after her pokemon. She was very relieved when she saw her pop her head from out of the water and begin yelling indignantly at the sea serpent. Bubbles' efforts were rewarded by being ignored by the huge pokemon and being unable to retake her place on his back.

"That's what you get for losing your temper!" Erika called down. Though she appreciated how protective her pokemon was of her, she really needed to learn that she couldn't attack any pokemon or person when they bugged her.

"Hey Storm, why don't you go down there too and make sure Bubbles doesn't get lonely?" Sapphire suggested to her eeveelution, who nodded and hopped off Roger.

Erika smiled at the younger girl in thanks and Sapphire smiled back. They spent the next while in silence, listening to the waves, the cawing of pelipper and wingull, and watching Storm and Bubbles play in the ocean. Right when Erika began dozing in the sun (which had thankfully dried her), a loud buzzing sounded in her ear, causing her to jump awake with a little scream.

Next to the blue eyed girl hovered a dark green and red dragonfly pokemon that made a constant buzzing. "What's this?" she muttered, eyeing the pokemon warily.

"Oh, I think that's brother's yanmega!" Sapphire announced, studying the bug pokemon closely.

"Onyx has a yanmega?" Erika questioned. From what he boasted about, it didn't seem like the bug pokemon would fit his "bad boy" image.

"No, silly, Emerald's," the blue haired girl giggled, "It looks like he wants to give you something."

As if to confirm Sapphire's words, Emerald's yanmega nudged Erika and lowered his tail over his head; revealing a letter clamped in his pincer. Erika gingerly removed the letter and studied it. The envelope was a light green with pink flowers doodled all over it; she expected no less from him.

"Read it," Sapphire urged.

Erika nimbly opened the envelope, took out the paper, and began reading:

_Dear Eri-Love,_

_Hello Eri dearest! How are you doing out there on the high seas? It must be depressing since there's no green there; it's my fa~vor~ite color. Oh! But your eyes are blue, so maybe blue is your favorite color? _

_Things are wonderfully wonderful here at the base, though it's really quiet since we're missing so many people (sad face). Also, Rhina keeps getting mad at me because I wanna look at her a~ma~zing workshop. Everyone's so mean to me Eri-Love! You're the only person who will listen to me without yelling naughty words at me or committing violent actions; I hope you come back soon!_

_I hope you're doing super fantastically awesome my dear. Tell Saph-Baby I send love and tell Ony-Dear that the poochyena stuffed animal he had hidden under his pillow is cute. (heart) _

_Make sure to thank Dragon for being a sweetheart and delivering this! Oh- and I know how much you love those cute hair clips you wear so I got something for you to remember me by~_

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Emerald (star)_

Erika's blue eyes sparkled in amusement as she read the letter and laughed when she got the part about Onyx having a stuffed poochyena. She didn't think she'd be delivering that message because the brooding boy seemed like the type to shoot the messenger pidgey.

After folding up the paper, a claw/leg was shoved in her face. Seeing that there was something in the claw, she put out her hand for the yanmega to drop it in. A small object was dropped into her hand and she smiled at what she saw. A little silver clip rested in her hand with an emerald (she had no doubt that it was fake) decorating the end. It was simple, but it was probably her new favorite.

She quickly unclipped her old clip from her shoulder length brown hair, put it in her pocket, and popped her new one on. "Thank you very much Dragon," she then thanked the yanmega who nodded in acceptance and wasted no time fluttering off to his owner; quickly disappearing over the horizon.

Erika stared after the bug pokemon in surprised, "Wow, he's really fast."

Sapphire nodded, "Brother specializes in speed with his pokemon. So, what did the letter say?"

"Oh, your brother says everything at the base is good, though a little quiet, and sends you love."

"That's good! I also see that he gave you a present," Sapphire teased and grinned mischievously.

"Yeah, well, he's my friend and…" Erika's face began to heat up as she stuttered slightly in embarrassment.

"Aw, Emerald loves you! Do you love Emerald? Are you gonna get married? Are you gonna become my sister? Amethyst says that you're nice, and I think you're nice too, so you don't have to worry about us! Oh, I can't wait! Can I be the flower girl? The wedding should be-" Erika watched, mortified, as the little girl bubbled over with childish glee.

Now, she was sure she was not kidding herself when she said Emerald didn't love her, and she didn't love Emerald. She might, _might_, have a small crush on the childish man. Emerald? Who ever knew what was going through his head? The idea of them in a relationship…she didn't really know how she felt about it, but, she did know there were those times when something about Emerald seemed off, darker, more dangerous…

Sapphire studied Erika inquisitively as the older girl sat behind her with a contemplative face. She had long ago stopped gushing about their weddings –which she knew would happen- and had been sitting for a few minutes in silence. A frown tugged at her lips. Though she was sure Erika liked Emerald, it seemed like something about him bugged her a little bit. Amethyst…Amethyst had freaked out way more than she should have when it was announced she'd go on the mission. Amethyst was also always mumbling when she thought Sapphire wasn't listening about her mother not having good intentions. Maybe…maybe something really was wrong…

…

"Will you be quiet you little pest?" Kallen hissed as she glared at the teenage boy hovering above her.

"Oh, so you finally decided to talk quiet girl?" Onyx smirked as he looked down on the older girl; both literally and figuratively. He mused, "You did last a while- well over an hour."

Onyx Jewels was a cocky little shit. Kallen had decided that if there was a dictionary definition for the dark haired brat that would be it. The younger boy had flown over to her over an hour ago, and though she had started out responding, she grew increasingly silent as her anger began to build up.

Their (one-sided) conversation ranged from him talking about how great he was to how he awesome he was, with little in between. She was sure he managed to throw in a couple degrading comments in there somewhere, but she had begun to tune him out after a while.

"Would you be quiet and go away?" she growled, attempting to calm down.

"I would, but everyone else is even bigger losers than you, not that you're better by much," Onyx sneered.

The black haired girl gave him a dead pan look and said, "You know, my dewgong could shoot your charizard out of the sky in a matter of seconds."

"Hah! You couldn't even hurt Inferno if you tried," Onyx declared, chuckling at her absurdity.

Really, was he an idiot? What dimwit rides a half fire pokemon over the sea? If there was one angry water pokemon that decided to attack him, he would be screwed. This guy needed to get taken down a notch.

"Why don't we test it then? Lance, use-"

"Attention underlings!" a slick voice called, gaining Kallen's attention before she issued her command. Her black eyes were drawn towards the figure of a busty woman standing on top of what looked like a garchomp on steroids. She had a devious smile, confident stance, and ice blue eyes. Behind her sat the calm, but tense, form of Gordon Jameson. Having no pokemon of his own, he had no choice but to ride on somebody else's pokemon. Diamond had already announced that he would be staying close to her on the mission, leaving the man no choice. The team felt varying degrees of pity for him.

"Thanks to ghost boy here, we have –_finally_- located the Avian's base!" Diamond announced. She was just happy she could get off the sea for a while; it was making her hair frizz.

Next to the floating dragon pokemon was the form of "ghost boy", or Ace Break, hitching a ride on his intimidating ghostly companion; Dusknoir. As Ace opened his mouth to speak, Diamond curtly cut him off, "I ordered Ace to scout ahead with his Dusknoir's _shadow sneak _in the shadow of the cliffs to see if he could find anything. I wasn't very surprised when my plan worked and now I have shaved off days of searching- feel free to thank me. Anyway, ghost boy, could you direct them to where you found it?"

Ace spared a half glare at her before saying, "You can see it from here; it's that speck on the last cliff that's in sight." He pointed down the opposite way that they were going to travel.

"I can see it!" Yuzuki and Toby announced excitedly at once, happy that their squinting had paid off. Yuzuki glared at Toby as he cheekily waved a piece of paper in front of her; it turns out, Kit's aim _was _better. Toby wouldn't let her read the letter though; he said it was punishment for trying to get the bird to fly away, though the stupid thing didn't.

"Finally," Elizabeth murmured; she had abandoned Onyx and Kallen quickly after discovering that they would probably end up being just as loud as her previous company. She had lead Zodiac into some higher altitude flying until she saw Diamond prepare to make an announcement.

"Get ready Team Gem, we have a base to invade," Diamond smirked.

And that, really, was when it all began.

…

_**Dear Lord, that was like pulling teeth =.=" I'm ready to get to the invasion(s)! Sorry for any grammar mistakes; I didn't really feel like thoroughly re-reading this.**_

**__****Oh, check out the new OC submission story I'm doing! It's called "A Pirate's Life" :)**

_**I think I'm going to take a nap now, R&R!**_


End file.
